


Ginny Weasley and the Riddle of Tom's Diary

by DevlinGrace



Series: The Amice Coven [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:29:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 56,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3312251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevlinGrace/pseuds/DevlinGrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Ginny first year at Hogwarts. She's excited but no one else knows the real reason. Hermione. I will follow the stories to some degree and some important dialogue will be word for word. I own only my own plot line, (Book 1).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Summer's End

The little red-headed girl ran down the stairs headed for the kitchen where she could already hear her mother cooking breakfast for her and her brothers. She was always the first to rise each morning, cherishing the rare occasion that she got to spend time with the only other girl in the house, her mother. Pretty soon the rest of the kids, the four older brothers that still lived at home, would be crowded around the kitchen table and hogging all the food.

"'Morning Mum..." she said as she entered the kitchen while inhaling the smell of the bacon cooking on the stove. The slightly plump, red-headed woman at the stove, turned to smile at her only daughter as she casually waved the wand in her hand to flip the bacon.

"Good morning, Ginny dear... excited to go see Luna today?" her mother asked. Ginny grinned from ear to ear. Luna lived not too far away and had become Ginny's best friend ever since Luna's mother had died just before she'd turned nine. The whole Weasley clan had attended the funeral and the two girls had hit it off immediately. Luna's father, while a bit odd, deeply cared for his daughter and was only too happy when she and the little red-headed girl became friends.

"I can't wait, but I thought I'd try to grab a big breakfast before I go over… Luna's dad can't really cook." It was funny Ginny thought that, even with something as big as her eleventh birthday coming up; she seemed to be so much more excited about what the birthday meant. In one month it would be her turn to finally ride the Hogwarts Express and get to see for herself just how much truth there was to all the stories her brothers had told her for as long as she could remember. This summer the youngest Weasley boy, Ron, had kept them all entertained with tales of his adventures with his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. For the first time her brother had something to boast about that his five older brothers could not. While it was true that Fred, George and Percy had also met Harry during the last year. Ron had actually become Harry's friend, and to hear him tell it, the only reason Harry had managed to get to Lord Voldemort to defeat him at the end of the last school year. Personally, listening to Ron tell the story for the hundredth time just yesterday, Ginny thought that, though it was true Ron had certainly helped by doing just about the only thing he was any good at by defeating Professor McGonagall's giant wizard's chess set and getting a pretty good bump on the head when he sacrificed himself to win the chess game, she couldn't help but think;"If he was so good at chess he wouldn't have gotten into that position in the first place." She shook her head slightly. No, she thought the main reason that Harry was able to get so far was another thing that Ginny was really looking forward to, not only getting to meet the clever Hermione, but finding out just how much truth there was to Ron's version of events.

Ginny glanced at the time. It was early yet and she wasn't heading over to Luna's for a couple of hours. She smiled to herself. Getting up early had other advantages, like getting to sneak out on her brother's brooms before they finally got their lazy behinds out of bed. When she was on a broom all her worries and loneliness just seemed to fade away. The Burrow, her family's home, was in the middle of the countryside without another soul for miles. Luna's was the only house that was close and even that was just a bit too far to walk to and from in a day. Each year she would fly just a little higher always keeping the house in sight but not so high that she might be seen flying by one of those big flying things Muggles use to travel great distances.

Her mother looked at her then, noticing the faraway look in her eyes and the small grin on her face, "Ginny? You going to try and get in a little flying before your brother's get up?" Her mother seemed to know her too well, causing her to grin shyly at her mother when she nodded. She knew her mother wasn't happy about her one and only daughter flying every day, but she didn't really understand why. "Well, okay, then. Be careful and be back and cleaned up by nine. I'll send the usual warning sign if one of your brothers actually drags themselves that way before then."

"Thanks Mum," Molly smiled and shook her head slightly as she turned her attention to the pancakes that were starting to pour themselves into the pan. It wasn't that Molly minded Ginny flying, or worried that she might hurt herself, it wasn't even the small chance that she'd be seen flying. No, as real as those fears were, she was more worried her daughter was becoming something of a tomboy and she wasn't sure what, if anything, she should do about it. It was bound to happen, she reasoned, what with six boys in the house.

She watched as the pancakes flipped themselves and turned to look at Ginny. She sat at the table reading a second-hand copy of the first year potions book. Her long red hair pulled back in a ponytail. She looked almost exactly like Molly had at the same age… well, except for the clothes that was, and the ponytail of course. Kids these days preferred Muggle clothing over robes. Except for when they had to, of course, like during the school year and formal events. Ginny was dressed in a faded pair of denim jeans and Holyhead Harpies t-shirt they had given her last Christmas. They didn't have much, the Weasley's, but they did the best they could with seven kids and one income. Admittedly, it had gotten easier when the two eldest, Bill and Charlie, had graduated and gone off to have successful careers of their own. They might not have much, but when they could, they tried to do something special for their kids.

Last fall had been hard on Ginny, being the only kid in the house was lonely enough without the fact that Luna and her father had gone off looking for something that probably didn't exist. They had taken Ginny to Diagon Alley for a late lunch before picking up the boys from the train at Christmas to try to cheer her up a little when Arthur, Ginny's dad, had spotted the t-shirt in a booth set up outside the broom store. He whispered to Molly his intentions and while she distracted Ginny, ran off to find out the price. It hadn't been too expensive and he knew that it would surely make Ginny smile when she unwrapped it Christmas morning. Ginny's parents knew that her greatest ambition was to play for the all-witch Quidditch team, but they were also glad to see her reading her brother's old textbooks whenever possible. Ginny had only just taken to wearing the ponytail after asking Molly, yet again, if she could cut it short.

"No," Molly thought with a smile to herself as she turned to the, now ready, pancakes and placed them on the on a plate; "Ginny is already too much of a boy to look like one too." Maybe in a couple of years when she found out if what she suspected was true, she'd let her cut her hair, but for now she wanted to try keep her looking like her "little girl" for as long as she could.

Ginny put the book aside as the plate landed in front of her. She looked up to catch a slightly sad smile on her mother's face before she turned back to the cooking. Ginny thanked her Mum and started eating her breakfast. She had finished in no time and headed out the door towards the old outhouse they used to store the brooms, Molly watching from the kitchen as Ginny expertly mounted the newest broom in the cupboard and soared off into the sky.


	2. Unexpected Arrivals

It was a few days before her birthday when Ginny returned a little earlier than normal from her morning flying because she noticed their ancient owl, Errol, barely flying towards the house. Curious, Ginny had landed, returned the broom to its closet, and then headed to the house. Good thing she had too, for Errol lay on top of, what looked like, Harry's birthday present on the ground. Ginny stared at him for a moment and then sighed in relief as she finally saw the exhausted owl take a deep breath. She had thought it dead for a moment, but it was merely asleep. Ginny gently picked up the sleeping owl and the package it was attached to and entered the kitchen.

"Oh please tell me he's dead! Mum can I pick the next owl please?" her brother exclaimed, barely containing his glee, "Wait, is that Harry's birthday present?" Ginny held the owl carefully so as not to wake it as Fred deftly untied the package.

"Ronald! What an awful thing to say...," Molly scolded him; "He's not? Is he Ginny?" A small bit of hope creeping into her voice. They really should have let the poor thing retire years ago, but as they barely needed him to deliver anything and never very far he was just as good as. Besides, owls were expensive… but if the poor thing died...well then they wouldn't have a choice would they?

"No mum, just passed out," Ginny replied as she gently placed him in his cage. Errol sleepily opened his eyes, hooted a quite thanks, and fell back to sleep.

"Yeah...it's Harry's birthday present. Mum? You don't think they did something did you?" Fred asked somewhat anxiously. While Ron may be Harry's best friend they all worried about him. If nothing else, Harry kept Ron out of his and his twin George's hair so they could plan and pull their pranks in peace, but they also felt grateful to Harry for keeping Ron safe. And by "they" it was understood by all that he meant Harry's horrible aunt, uncle and fat nasty cousin.

"No Fred, I'm sure Errol didn't even make it there. He probably tired out halfway there and turned around and came back. Why did you send him with such a heavy parcel anyway? I told you the letters were okay but you know he's..."

"Pathetic?" offered George.

"We were worried Mum," Fred explained before his mother scold him as well. He chanced a glance at his mother's face before continuing; "We haven't heard from Harry since he got back and Ron's sent him at least three letters before this." Molly glared at Ron, but before she could scold him again, George continued on where Fred had left off.

"We think they're not letting Harry get his letters, mum, but we thought even they couldn't deny him his birthday gift."

"And the letter I got from Hermione said she hadn't heard from him either," Ron added.

Molly was exasperated with the boys but she had to admit she was worried as well. At the mention of Hermione's name Ginny looked up to and saw the worry cross her mother's face. The boys hadn't noticed, they didn't notice anything, she thought, but she thought she'd try to get them out of trouble anyways. Or maybe delay it.

"Mum, maybe they're right? What if something is wrong?" Molly turned to her daughter and tried to smile. Maybe they were right.

"I'll talk it over with your Dad when he gets home and we'll try to figure something out, okay?" s asked as she looked at the three boys and Ginny, trying to reassure them with a smile. "And Ronald...don't think you're getting away with this," she added, looking at Ron, then turned quickly to watch the grins slip off the twins face, "Don't think you're off scot-free you two...you should know better. All three of you...I want your rooms spotless by the time your father gets home." She turned to Ginny and winked, "Why don't you go a quick bite and then head back out in the sunshine dear?" Molly knew she had just given Ginny the chance to go fly some more and remind the boys what they were missing for misbehaving. Two birds, one stone, she thought. She couldn't do much while they were at school, but she hoped if she could rein in the twins while they were at home, well maybe she'd finally get a few less owls from Minerva this year about them. She wasn't hopeful. The second stone was that she knew that Ginny wouldn't be doing any unsupervised flying in her first year and how much she would sorely miss it.

Ginny lit up as it dawned it on her what had her mother had done. She grinned, leaned over Fred and grabbed the last sandwich from lunch, "Thanks Mum, I think I'll go for a walk and eat this..."

"Okay. Don't wander too far and be back for dinner," she watched her daughter leave then turned back to the boys, "You three… upstairs…now. I do not want to see or hear you until dinner. Understood?"

They nodded and quietly got up from the table.

"What's Ginny look so happy about? 'Going for a walk'" Ron snorted when he thought Molly couldn't hear him, "what's so fun about that?"

Molly shook her head. "Boys," she thought, "they really are blind sometimes."

She nodded to her daughter waiting at the broom closet to let her know the boys were gone. She sighed as she watched Ginny walk away with a broom on her shoulder and eating her sandwich with the other hand. She was secretly both dreading the school year and looking forward to it. The house would be even emptier this year but at least she'd finally have a little peace, quiet and alone time with her husband. She blushed slightly before remembering her real reason for getting the kids away from the kitchen. As much as she cherished time with her daughter she needed to contact Arthur to see if he could find out anything about Harry.

She was worried about Harry and had been since the end of the school year after his "adventure". Actually, truth be told, she'd worried about the boy since the night his parents died. She had personally written to Dumbledore and the ministry offering to adopt him but Dumbledore had simply replied that it was in the boy's interest to be raised by his Muggle relatives. Molly shook her head slightly at the memory as she watched the tiny speck she knew to be Ginny perform some truly astonishing aerial maneuvers. Molly smiled in spite herself and turned to the fire place. She reached up to the mantel and took the lid off an old box that sat there. Her fingers almost scrapped the bottom as she pinched the floo powder. "Great, we'll need more soon," she thought and sighed.

…

Ginny couldn't believe her luck as she happily munched on her sandwich and walked towards the broom shed… she tried to help them but got to fly some more instead. She turned and watched the kitchen window. She could just see that her mother was still talking to the boys. She grinned and took another bite.

When she saw her mother's nod she quickly opened the broom closet. She badly wanted to take one of the twins' brooms, as they were newest, relatively speaking, but she was worried they might start to notice. She sighed and grabbed the one Charlie had left behind. It wasn't very fast, but it was somewhat agile. She grinned as she remembered the move she'd seen in one of Ron's Quidditch books. She'd been working up the nerve to try it for weeks, but as she also really loved flying as fast as possible too, she wasn't overly eager to try it. Once she'd gotten to the orchard where the boys had set up their practice Quidditch pitch she gracefully mounted the broom and rose into the air.

"Ah freedom," she thought, as the wind hit her face for the second time that day as she flew high

…

Ginny headed down to the kitchen a little early the next morning and was still in her pajamas and was surprised when Ron, Fred and George passed her on the stairs heading to their rooms. She looked at their happy, yet scared faces, as they passed her and wondered what was going on. As she reached the kitchen she heard an unfamiliar voice added to that of her parents. Quietly she entered the kitchen and looked at the boy sitting at the table.

"Harry," she thought.

He looked up from the table, noticed her and smiled warmly. She blushed scarlet realizing this relative stranger was seeing her in pajamas and quickly ran from the room.

As she climbed the stairs a weird thought crossed her mind. If Harry was here, did that mean Hermione might be here soon too? For some reason she felt herself blushing again at the thought and wondered why...slowly a small grin came to her lips as she entered her bedroom to change.

"Wouldn't have been so bad if it had been Hermione at the table..." she thought, her blush deepening; "Cause she's a girl... I don't care if a girl sees me," she reasoned as she tried to dismiss her blush.


	3. Luna's Visit

After a few days it became clear to Ginny that Hermione would not be joining them before the start of the school year and she was quickly becoming bored with having an extra boy in the house. Harry seemed nice enough to Ginny and she enjoyed watching him fly with her brothers. He was good. Especially since he'd never ridden a broom before last year. But she had found herself swallowing her jealousy over them getting to fly by quietly daydreaming about Hogwart's. Just that morning as they all wolfed down their breakfasts they'd all received their Hogwart's letters. Then Percy entered, sat on an exhausted Errol, and they found out that Hermione would be at Diagon Alley just a few days after her birthday. Ginny had gotten a little more excited about the school year and felt a little a nervous about meeting Hermione officially but, before she had the chance to ponder her feelings her mother had gotten her attention...

"Oh Xeno, Mr Lovegood I mean, sent an owl asking if Luna could come spend the night before your birthday?" Ginny nodded, "She'll leave after your birthday dinner." Ginny brightened at the thought of spending time with her best friend and absently wondered what Luna's dad was off chasing this time.

"What time she getting here Mom?, " She asked between mouthfuls.

"Just after dinner dear...can you clean your room a bit before then so we can set up a camp cot?"

"Mom my room's not messy and why can't we just share my bed like last time?"

"Come on honey, you know you're both getting too big for your bed...you'd be practically sleeping on top of each other..." Ginny blushed for some reason but Molly ignored it and looked to the boys finishing their lunch. "Harry dear, you sure you don't want another bowl of soup? Or maybe a sandwich a dear?" He shook his head in reply as his mouth was full and mumbled a thank you. If Molly had been worried about Harry before she was even more so now. Once she had calmed down enough over the shock of the boys taking their flying car all the way to Harry's and back, "Thank Merlin they weren't seen..."she thought. She was shocked to find out that Harry had been locked in a room with bars on his window for the last few days with only his owl for company. Her heart ached when he admitted to not receiving any of his friend's letter and she found herself angry at how much weight he had lost in the short time he had spent at Privet Drive that summer. "Really," she thought, "is it so hard to feed the boy?"

Ginny looked at Harry as she ate. She thought he looked skinny too but he was seeker for the Gryffindor team and knew his small size was actually an advantage. She considered telling her mother that Harry wouldn't be able to get his broom off the ground if he ate much more and smiled. "Hm," she thought, maybe if Harry couldn't fly his beautiful new Nimbus she could sneak it away long enough for her to try it. She hadn't a chance yet as Harry had been keeping his broom in Ron's room but she secretly wished she could. She grinned slightly and addressed her mom.

"Sure mom...I'll do it after lunch" Ginny listened to the boy's prattle on for a while then headed up to her room. She looked around her room and sighed. It was small but at least being the only girl she got her own room. Ron had been sharing with Percy up until a few year's ago when Charlie moved out and the twins still shared a room. She had always wondered why Ron had gotten the room instead of one of the twins as they were older...maybe because with the twins in a room together her parents were able to limit the amount of damage they did to just one room instead of two. She smiled and slowly started to make room for the cot. She shook her head, "Like Luna won't end up crawling in bed with me anyways" she smiled at the thought. Luna still had the occasional nightmare about her mother's death and had confined to Ginny that she never had them when she slept next to her.

Ginny finished cleaning her room and glanced out the window. She could just see the tiny flying dots of her brothers and Harry flying and looked up at the gathering clouds in the sky. "Oh I hope it pours rain on them..."she thought. She picked up the old transfiguration text on her bed and sat down to read. It was a Grade two text and she had to admit it was over her head but she was determined to have a reason to talk to Hermione. She hadn't put it down since she had heard it was one of Hermione's favorite subjects. She'd of been reading her own textbook but, as she was supposed to be using Ron's old copy he ruined after leaving a wet robe in his trunk, she had to wait to get a brand second hand copy of her own.

...

They had just finished dinner when there was a knock at the door...Luna had arrived. Ginny grinned at the blond haired Luna and they both raced off to her room even though it wasn't anywhere near time to go to bed yet. Molly shook her head as the two girls raced off giggling. As soon as they had entered her room Ginny turned and faced her friend. She could see the telltale bags under her friend's eyes and knew she had had a few sleepless nights. She hugged her friend warmly and asked. " You okay Luna? You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Just the same old nightmares," she replied, "I always get so worried when Dad runs off on one of his business trips alone. "What if I lose him too Ginny?" She replied sadly.

"How come you didn't go with him Luna?" She knew that Luna secretly thought her dad's trip were pointless but they got her away from the house and the terrible memory that resided there. But it was more than that. Luna was worried because the only time her dad wouldn't let her join him was if he was meeting with someone dangerous. She was also a little miffed that he was going to pick up most of her school things while he was in London and was disappointed she wouldn't get to go to Diagon Alley.

Luna tried to change the subject, "So is Hermione here?"

"No...I heard Ron mention something about hopefully seeing her in a few days when we go to get our school stuff but.." Luna gave her friend a small grin. The last time they had visited Ginny had wondered out loud why in the world someone who seemed as smart as Hermione would hang out with her idiot brother Ron. Ginny had wondered a lot of things about Hermione during their last visit and secretly thought maybe Ginny had a little crush on a girl she had yet to meet. Ginny hadn't said anything to that effect yet Luna had noticed that her friend seemed to brighten considerably every time she said or heard the witch's name. If Ginny wasn't ready to tell her yet, Luna was okay with that. She loved Ginny like a sister and she was worried that, if she was right, she might lose her best and only friend. It was too sad to think about and so Luna tried to change the subject again.

"Are you hoping you get into Gryffindor?" She asked. Luna knew that all the Weasley's had been in Gryffindor and knew Ginny had mixed feelings about it.

"I guess...I mean...I don't know that I have a choice if history is any indicator." Ginny replied a little sadly. As much as she wanted to be in the same house as her brothers and Hermione she had been secretly hoping to enter a different house to get away from them. Her brother's anyways...but I guess it won't be so bad. Gryffindor has always had the best Quidditch team, she looked at Luna as the blond witch mumbled something about "stupid Quidditch." And looked away with a sad little smile on her face. It wasn't that Luna begrudged her friend's love of the sport but that she knew Ginny would probably end up in Gryffindor and she in Ravenclaw like her parents. She was going to miss Ginny during the school year and hoped she would at least have some classes in common. Ginny had a feeling what was bothering her friend and tried to cheer her up, "Maybe you'll get into Gryffindor too" she added hopefully.

Luna brightened slightly at the thought and then replied, "Not to mention if you get into Gryffindor you'll get to spend time with Hermione," a small bit of jealousy crept into her voice. She watched as the predictable blush briefly tainted Ginny's cheeks, before continuing, "but like you said I doubt I'll have much of a choice Gin...I just wish I could have you around to help me deflect any questions about mum and dad."

"Have you decided how you're going to deal with that?" Ginny asked.

"Well I think most people won't ask about mum but they'll recognize dad's name from the Quibbler and ask me a bunch of stupid questions about what he writes in it. They're all going to assume that I'm as crazy as he is and tease me..."

"You don't know that Loon..."GInny interrupted, worried at the sound of sadness in her friend's voice, "I don't think most kids our age know about your dad's paper and even if they did you could just tell them the truth about how you feel about it."

"I wish I could Gin but you know how my dad is...he'd be so upset if he found out his daughter doesn't believe a single one of his crackpot stories. I can't do that to him Gin...he only does it so he doesn't have to think about Mom." She looked up at her friend as she tried to hold back the tears that had suddenly formed in her eyes. Ginny looked worried and hugged her again. "I still miss her Gin," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, " but I'm worried about what dad might get up to while I'm in school. He's never been in the house by himself before and he's been talking about trying to meet the fairies while I'm gone..."

Ginny tried to cheer her friend up, "well, aren't fairies really little?" Luna nodded her reply, "well then he'll be fine right?"

"Yeah, I guess so...Ginny?" she asked a little shaky as she voiced one of her fears, "are you still going to be my friend if I don't end up with you in Gryffindor?"

"Luna Lovegood," she said, trying to channel her mother's best stern expression, "I will always be your friend...even if you get sorted into Slytherin!" It worked as Luna broke into a huge grin. She knew Ginny was being honest because just about everyone hated the Slytherins and Gryffindors were amongst the strongest and most vocal about their dislike of the snakes.

"Thanks Gin...you always know how to make me smile." The girls settled on to Ginny's bed and happily got lost in their discussions of Hogwarts for the rest of the night. Just before Ginny's mother had knocked on the door to tell them to go to bed Luna had confided to Ginny her plans on how she was going to deal with their separation once they got into school.

The two girls changed into their pjs, turned off the light and sat back down on Ginny's bed to finish their talk, "so what do mean you're going to act like they all expect you to?"

"Well..."Luna gazed off out the window then continued with a mischievous grin on her face, "they're all going to assume I'm as crazy as dad when they hear my last name so why not act like it?"

"Why in the world would you do that Luna?" the confusion lacing her voice. She couldn't help wonder why anyone to choose to open themselves up to ridicule.

"Well they're going to tease me either way Gin at least this way I won't have to lie about dad's um, views, and maybe they'll leave me alone." Luna reasoned.

As Luna suppressed a yawn Ginny voiced a thought, "And then you and I can laugh at them!"

"Exactly, " Luna replied as she got off the bed to climb into the camp cot for the night. She hadn't got far when she felt Ginny's hand grab her own. Luna turned to her friend to ask what she was doing when Ginny wordlessly let her hand go, stood up to pull back the covers off her bed, and then indicated the spot beside her. Luna grinned into the darkness and climbed in beside Ginny. As she laid herself in Ginny's arms and listened to Ginny's slowing heartbeat she thought to herself, "well at least there won't be any nightmares tonight".

Ginny squeezed her friend a little and wished her friend a good night. It felt good to have someone close to you she thought, and then, just before she fell asleep, she found herself wondering what it would be like to hold Hermione like this. Before she could question the odd thought she drifted off to sleep.


	4. First Glimpse

It was a few days after Ginny's birthday when they all lined up in their robes to take the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. Ginny was excited for so many reasons. She knew her parents had to spend a lot in order to get her school supplies and hadn't expected much for her birthday that year but her Mum had quietly promised after she'd opened her gifts that she would get her something special in Diagon Alley. "Nothing big, mind, and you can't tell your brother's..." she had said, "any idea what you might like?"  
Ginny wanted her own broom but knew there was no way they could afford it. So instead she asked her mother for a new quill and a notebook to use as a journal. It had been Luna's idea and she'd been meaning to ask her mother but now she could. Molly smiled and placed her hand on Ginny's shoulder, "I think we can manage that,” she replied a little surprised at her daughter's request. What could Ginny need to write down that she couldn't talk to Luna about?  
Little did Molly know that was exactly why Ginny wanted a diary. There were some things she couldn't tell Luna. Some things she still didn't quite understand herself. She had lain lazily in bed the morning of her birthday enjoying the feeling of Luna spooned in front of her. Luna lay fast asleep with her head on Ginny's arm while the other lay casually around Luna's sleeping waist. She was wondering why it just felt so comfortable lying there with her friend as Luna sleepily woke up as if she had sensed Ginny watching.  
"M-m-morning" she said sleepily, "sleep well?" she asked as she sat up slowly and stretched. Ginny quickly missed the feeling of Luna's warmth beside her.  
"Sure did, " she smiled and blushed, thinking of the dream she'd been having just before she woke up, " and you?" she asked quickly trying to cover the redness in her cheeks and getting out of bed herself.  
"Really good... no nightmares... by that grin I'd say you had some pleasant dreams?" Ginny's blush deepened. As much as she adored Luna it was sometimes very irritating just how perceptive the young witch was; "Want to tell me about it?" Ginny shook her head. She didn't understand what the dreamt meant but she did remember how it made her felt. It was nothing big or earth shattering, she thought, but still... she couldn’t tell her. “We just woke up together for Merlin's sake,” she thought. Luna was looking at her expectantly though so decided to tell her how the dream had made her feel rather than about the dream itself.  
"I was walking with someone, they had their arm draped my shoulder and we were just joking about what an idiot Ron was and I don't know… I just felt so happy and safe..." she trailed off remembering the dream again.  
"Who had their arm around you?" Luna asked the one question she hadn't wanted to answer, so she told a small lie instead.  
"I don't know. I don't remember their face but it just felt so real Luna, I can't help but hope that it comes true one day."  
"Well,” she thought, "That was mostly true." She had seen a face but since she hadn't officially met Hermione yet she didn't really know her. So it wasn't a complete lie. Luna however sensed her friend's reluctance but decided to refrain from pointing out Ginny's use of non-gender specific pro nouns.  
"Maybe you should get a diary. I find when you write stuff out sometimes it makes a little more sense." Ginny thought this over. "Then if there's ever something you're afraid to tell me you can maybe just let me read it instead?" It was a good idea she thought. But she also knew she wouldn't be letting Luna at it anytime soon.  
Ginny grinned at the memory and then rejoined the conversation as the twins were giving Harry tips on traveling with Floo powder. It was Ginny’s first time as well but having grown up around it she wasn't too worried. Also she was small enough that she'd be going with her Mum.  
No, the reason her stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies instead of the bacon sandwich she'd had this morning was that pretty soon she'd be meeting the witch that had prompted her desire for the diary in the first place. Secretly she felt that meeting Hermione was a far better birthday gift than the diary.  
Harry tentatively entered the fireplace and stuttered, "D-d-diagon Alley".  
Once he had vanished in the green flames Molly turned to her husband, with a worried expression, "He'll be okay won't he? I knew you should've gone with him Arthur."  
"I'm sure he's fine Molly. Besides all the boys went by themselves I wouldn't want Harry to feel like he wasn't able to do it on his own." Arthur however wondered if maybe his was wife wasn't right and hurried into the fire next to check.  
"You ready Ginny?" Molly asked and took her daughter's small hand. Ginny just nodded, wishing she'd had the option of doing it by herself but she knew none of her brother's had gone solo till they were at least twelve.  
The trip was really quick and Ginny had closed her eyes as all the wizard's grates had passed by. When she next opened her eyes she was in the Leaky Cauldron with her mother and rest of the Weasley's. All except Harry.  
"Where do you think he is Arthur?" Molly asked her husband the worry and possible shame of losing little Harry Potter evident in her voice.  
"Well I don't know where he ended up but I doubt he went far," he replied trying to rest everyone's mind at ease, "Let's head to Gringotts... he'll probably turn up there pretty quick as it's so big and he'll need to go there too." Arthur's reasoning had worked and the red-headed family headed into Diagon Alley.  
Or at least it seemed to have. That is until they actually got into the magical alley. They started off at a quick walk that turned into a jog as they peered into store after store looking for Harry without success. Ginny tried to take in as much as could but she wasn't given much of chance. They reached Gringotts’ marble steps after the rest of them, Molly still clutching Ginny's hand as she had started to run. Ginny did her best to keep with her Mum but it wasn't because she was worried about Harry. One other person had been missing when they had arrived in the grimy old pub... Hermione.  
They caught up in time to hear Hagrid's explanation as her mother turned to Harry to clean him off with the clothes’ brush. Ginny took her chance to look around but there she stood, standing next to Harry and enormous Hogwarts' gamekeeper… Hermione.  
Ginny felt a warm glow spread out across her body as she looked at Hermione for the first time. She'd seen her quickly when they'd picked the boys up at the end of the last school year but Ginny hadn't had the chance to really look at her like she was now. She was stunned to realise that Ron had never once mentioned just how pretty Hermione was. Even after the brief glimpse she'd had a few months earlier she'd let Ron's description of Hermione as "bushy haired, buck toothed, know it all" influence her memory. To her Hermione looked beautiful. She knew Hermione was almost thirteen but somehow, to her, she seemed way older than Ron or Harry. It was the way she held herself and the way she talked. All too soon the little party wandered into the bank.  
Molly took a quick head count and realised there were far too many of them to all take the little cart down to the vaults. "Arthur why don't you, Ginny, George and Fred stay here with Hermione and her parents and me, Ron and Harry will head down?" Arthur, she knew, would be all too happy to stay and chat with the Grangers as they were Muggles and he had rarely gotten the chance. He agreed and the rest of them set off. There was another reason she didn't want all of them down there... she didn't want the boys to see just how empty the Weasley vault was.  
Ginny watched her mother walk away and then returned to her study of the witch she'd been dyeing to meet all summer. She was talking to the twins about what to expect in her second year and was listening intently to their answers. Meanwhile her dad was almost bouncing with excitement as he never gotten the chance to be so close to two Muggles who actually knew something about magic. She slyly returned to her study of Hermione.  
She was dressed in a pair of jeans and nice top. Ginny figured that, like she and her siblings had worn their robes that day to make their parents more comfortable, Hermione had done the same for her parents who also wore their Muggle, or rather, every day, clothes. Ginny hid herself a little behind her dad so the object of her study wouldn't notice her intense stare. She started from the hair. Well yes, it might have been a little bushy but it was currently residing in a ponytail much like the one Ginny favoured. Ginny's hair was currently down and it was hot and itchy on the back of her neck. She kept bugging her mother to cut it because it got in her eyes when she was flying but had let it drop when she overheard her mother sadly say to her father, "I swear, sometimes she thinks she's a boy." They compromised with the ponytail. Her eyes slowly drank in every detail of Hermione's face. She felt herself flush when Hermione laughed and smiled at one of the boys' joke.  
It was almost as if she could feel Ginny's gaze as she finally turned and noticed the younger witch half hidden by her father's robes. Thinking the girl was being shy Hermione excused herself to come say hello.  
Ginny felt as though her heart was going to beat itself right out of her throat as Hermione approached her. "You must be Ginny," she extended a hand to her, “ I don't know if Ron's said anything about me? I'm Hermione." Ginny felt a jolt as her and Hermione's hand touched. She hoped that Hermione just thought it was a squeeze and quickly let it go. She didn't quite trust her voice but just nodded instead. "Are you excited about your first year?” "You have no idea", she thought, but again just nodded. "What's wrong with me?" she thought, "Come on Ginny; show her you’re more than a "little sister" she scolded herself, but couldn't figure out what to say. Fortunately Hermione was pulled into her parents’ conversation when she had to explain a question her dad had asked. Before they could talk again Harry, Ron and Molly had returned from the vaults and they all left the bank.  
Standing in the sun again Ginny listened absently as plans were made. Fred and George saw another boy from their year and wandered off to meet him their mother yelling to them to meet them at the bookstore in an hour. Percy muttered something about quills and wandered off as well. She was to go with her parents for all her first year supplies. At that Ginny had groaned internally, she hoped they had enough for her diary. Ron, Harry and Hermione wandered off to browse Diagon Alley together. As they walked away Ginny heard them talking about their summers and laughing. For some reason Hermione seemed to rubbing her hand and Ginny noticed that there was still a slight tingle in her own from where they had touched. Ginny caught her gaze lingering on Hermione's retreating form then blushed when she realised just where her gaze had lingered so long. She averted her gaze then looked at her mother to see where they were going first.  
As they walked away from the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione rubbed her hand while half listening to the boys talking about their summers. "That was weird," she thought, as she tried to rub the tingle that was still lingering after having shaken Ginny's hand. It felt like the time she stupidly try to fish a piece of toast out of the toaster with a fork and had received a jolt of electricity for her trouble. It wasn't quite as intense, in fact it was almost pleasant, but still the feeling lingered. "Hey Hermione? You with us? Harry wants to buy us ice cream, what kind do you want?"  
_____________________________________________________________________________

They had gotten all Ginny's supplies and, as they headed towards the bookstore, Ginny could feel her pulse again begin to quicken. There was a large crowd inside the bookstore and a line that reached down the block. Ginny wasn't sure how she felt about crowds as she'd never really been in one before. She told herself it would be worth it though and took a deep breath and entered with her mother. Ginny frantically searched the crowd but it was almost impossible to see anything from her height. She let out the breath she didn't realise she was holding when her mother greeted them. Ginny still couldn't see her though but she knew she was near. It was almost as if she could feel her. She was slightly amused however when Gilderoy Lockhart pompously pulled Harry into a photo op for "The Daily Prophet". She knew Harry well enough to know how much he hated the spotlight. After all Ron's stories she expected him to be as bad the author but she knew he just wanted to be a regular kid.  
Eventually Harry managed to disentangle himself from the man and wandered over to her and unceremoniously dumped Lockhart's entire works into her cauldron, "You have these... I'll get my own," he mumbled. As loathe as Ginny was to accept such an extravagant gift she knew how much the books cost and was silently grateful.  
Before she could thank him though a drawling voice said; "Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter?" Ginny looked at the boy as well. Although she'd never seen him before, she had a sneaking suspicion as to who he was. "Famous Harry Potter," he drawled, "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."  
Ginny felt herself flushing from anger as she found her voice for the first time that day; "Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" as she tried to stare the blond boy down. She turned to find Hermione and Ron pushing their way towards Harry.  
Ginny lost track of the conversation for a little while until she heard a slightly deeper voice drawl, "...the company you keep, Weasley … and I thought your family could sink no lower…" Ginny had just dropped her cauldron in shock after she realised that the man was glaring at the Grangers with a strange look on his face. She was so stunned by the defiant look on the older girl’s face that she didn't have time to do anything as her father brushed past her and hit the tall man with the blond hair and expensive robes. Before she knew what had happened or could understand the insults the two men were hissing at each other Hagrid's sheer size had parted the crowd and the two men.  
Ginny glared at the tall blond man again. He seemed to be holding a textbook that looked out of place in his hand, "Here girl… take your book… it's the best your father can give you," he said dropping the book into her cauldron. She recognized it as the one her mother had bought earlier and frowned, not having noticed he had taken it in the first place. They quietly worked their way out of the store and Ginny realised with a sigh that in all the excitement they had forgotten to get her a diary.  
As the somewhat subdued group wandered back to the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione found herself looking over at Ginny. "Maybe she's not as shy as I thought," she wondered. She was amazed when Ginny had voiced what she herself had been thinking. She had turned her attention back to the Malfoys however as the two men traded subtle insults. She knew the Malfoys were glaring at her because they disapproved of her "blood status" but she also wasn't going to back down. Not to him, not to his son. Her attention was diverted when a cauldron had hit the floor and Mr Weasley had launched himself at Mr. Malfoy.  
Ginny glanced back and worried a little about Hermione. She wasn't sure what the wizard’s insults had meant but she had seen that angry look on Hermione's face and knew it couldn't be good. It clearly still bothered the older girl and she tried to think of something funny to say to cheer her up but she ran out of time. They had reached the pub and were going their separate ways.  
When they got home Ginny took her new school supplies up to her room. She wanted some time to think. "I should have told her that it looked like he had farted and was daring someone to blame him, that's what I should've said," she thought. She sighed sadly but then an image of Hermione laughing entered her mind’s eye and she smiled. She was starting to not question the warm feeling she got at the image and entered her room. She wondered if she'd see Hermione a little clearer in her dreams tonight.


	5. Off To Hogwarts

The rest of the summer passed quickly for Ginny. She spent her days flying each morning, and then sitting under a tree reading her textbooks while the boys flew on their brooms. For some reason Ginny hadn't touched her Transfiguration text yet. Somehow having seen in Lucius Malfoy's hand had sullied it for her. But it was Hermione's favorite subject and a few days before the start of the school year she decided to give it a look.

As she took the book from her cauldron she noticed that there seemed to be another, smaller, leather bound book inside of it. She gently removed it as it seemed very old and was startled to find it seemed to warm up in her hand. She wandered over to her bed as she opened it and was surprised to find the pages blank. Then it dawned on her. It was a diary. Her mother had somehow managed to get one after all and had slipped it inside the old text. "Thanks Mom," she thought and looked for a quill. She couldn't wait to start writing.

She found a quill and ink and then returned to her bed to write. She let the quill hang over the blank page while she contemplated what to write. There were so many thoughts fogging up her brain she didn't know where to start. She looked out the window lost in thought and was startled to finds words already upon the page when she went to write.

"Hello. My name is Tom Riddle. Who are you?" it asked in what looked like handwriting.

Ginny stared at the page in shock. Just what kind of diary was this? She wondered. Tentatively she decided to scratch out her answer with her quill. "My name is Ginny Weasley. Who are you Tom?"

"I am the secret keeper of this diary. Each time you write make sure you include the date. When you're done writing the words will disappear and you'll only be able to see them again by asking me to reveal the entry for that date. I'll only recognize only your handwriting so no one else can read me. Sound good?" Ginny thought about that for a moment. She seemed to remember her Dad saying to never trust something if you can't figure out where it's brain was, but then dismissed it. Her mother had bought it for her after all, there couldn't be anything dark or wrong about it.

She thought about what to write and then decided on another question for Tom. "Are you just a recorder of information or will help me to?" She wrote. It would be nice to confide in someone who didn't know her or the people she might be talking about.

Her words slowly faded to be replaced by Tom's answer, "You mean like advice?"

"Yes" that was exactly what she needed.

"I suppose I could do my best. I was created a long time ago and the world has changed. What would you like to talk about?" Ginny sighed, where was she going to start?

"Well...her name is Hermione and..."she started. Before she realised what she was doing the words seemed to flow by themselves. She quickly learned that if she finished a sentence and paused Tom would offer his thoughts once her words had yet again vanished. In this way she told Tom all about her dreams, how she felt around Hermione and her fears for the school year. Tom asked all the right questions and slowly Ginny started to feel a little nervous about the school year.

When she finally stopped writing a few hours later she was startled to find that it had grown dark outside and it was well past her bedtime. She looked back to the diary she was already starting to consider a friend and looked at the Tom's Last response, "Just be yourself Ginny I'm sure if Hermione is as clever as you say it won't take long for her to realise you are better company than your idiot brother."

Ginny smiled and inked her response. "Thank you Tom. It's late and I need to go to sleep."

"Goodnight Ginny and sweet dreams..." Ginny watched as Tom's last response faded and closed the book. She laid her hands on top of the closed book and she could feel her own heartbeat in her hands. She came to herself and decided to hide the diary beneath her mattress. Even though Tom said only she could read the diary she knew her brothers, the twins, wouldn't stop till they had figured out it's secrets. She had already written a lot of things and, if she wasn't ready yet to confide in Luna, she was sure she didn't want to answer her brother's questions. Sleepily she changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. She felt calmer than she had since that day in Diagon Alley. "Goodnight Hermione, wherever you are..." she thought to herself as she fell asleep.

…

Ginny spent most of her last few days before the start of term talking with Tom. There was nothing she couldn't say to him. She begrudgingly left her room each day for meals but, as soon as she could, she returned to her room and her talk with Tom.

The morning of September 1st dawned bright and warm with a few scattered clouds. They had gotten the car packed and were ready to head off to the London with plenty of time to spare. However after two false starts they were on their way. They were just about to merge onto the motorway when Ginny felt her excitement and nerves start to grow. Soon she would see Hermione again. "Hermione!" She thought and remembered her diary still safely tucked beneath her mattress. "Wait wait wait...we need to go back!"

"Whatever it is Ginny we'll send it along in a few days with Errol. We are very close to being late already." Molly assured her daughter. Ginny had to admit she had a point and as she considered telling her mother where to find her diary but stopped herself. "No," she thought, "what if she reads it? I'm definitely to ready for that discussion" but she need to find a better reason to go back for it.

"Mom please?" She begged, " It'll take Errol days and days to make it to Hogwart's, if he makes it at all, and what if someone else reads it?" Molly wondered what secrets her 11 year old daughter could possibly be so afraid that anyone might see, but seeing the look on Ginny's face she finally relented.

"No I suppose you're right Ginny...that is a long trip for Errol. Arthur turn around. If we hurry we should just about make it." She glanced at her daughter's grateful expression. She'd forgotten about getting Ginny a diary and figured maybe Arthur had given it to her.

"Molly dear, couldn't we fly? No one will see us and we get there in plenty of time..." Arthur trailed off at the stern look on his wife's face. Without another word he turned the car around at his next chance and headed back to The Burrow yet again. He'd barely pulled the car to stop before Ginny had scrambled over her mother and run for the house. Ginny wanted her diary but she also didn't want to be responsible for them missing the train. She hurried a little faster once she laid her hand on the diary, again surprised how it seemed to warm to her rest of the trip to London passed without incident and they arrived at platform 9 and ¾ with just 5 minutes to spare.

Ginny waited impatiently beside her mother as first Percy, her dad, Fred and George disappeared through the barrier. Once it was her turn she took her mother's hand and headed towards the barrier. Ginny looked up as Fred and George jumped off the train to help her with her trunk and almighty crash echoed somewhere behind her. She didn't give it too much thought though as hugged her parents goodbye and followed the twins onto the train. "Gin...go find yourself somewhere to sit. I think I saw Loony about half down the train sitting alone." She frowned at her brother's nickname for her best friend then smiled to herself..."Serves Luna right for testing out her plan on her brothers during her birthday party. "It had been fun laughing about it afterwards though," she thought as she looked for her friend.

Ginny found her exactly where George had said she'd be. She sighed in relief as she recognized Luna's long blond hair and entered the compartment. Luna was waving to her father and Ginny joined her at the window to wave to her parents. Only her parents seemed to be staring at the barrier and not at the train. She sighed and fell into a chair opposite Luna.

Once the station was out of sight Luna sat down as well. "You don't look like you've been sleeping Ginny," she said matter of factly. Ginny shrugged and stifled a yawn. "Still having those dreams?" She was saved having to answer when the subject of said dreams appeared at their compartment door.

"You haven't seen Ron and Harry have you?" she asked Ginny. For some reason she had lost her voice again and merely shook her head, "Hmm, well I'm going to go look for them. If you see them tell them I'm looking for them." Ginny responded with a nod. "Thanks Ginny". "Wait," Ginny thought, "stay here" but she still couldn't make the words come. Lucky for her, she had Luna.

The young blond witch looked up at Hermione in curiosity. "Why was Ginny not talking. Usually she couldn't get her to shut up.: she thought. Maybe she should say something..."Hermione?" She stopped just as she was exiting. She turned to Luna expectantly, "Hi I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood..."they briefly shaked hands, " if you don't find them you're welcome to come and join us. My dad gave me some money to raid the sweet cart and I'm sure we'll have more than enough."

"Thanks Luna, I just might do that." She looked at Ginny then left.

"Cat got your tongue Gin?" Luna asked her oddly mute and blushing friend. Ginny responded my aiming a kick at her friend, "She seems nice..." Luna couldn't help but notice the blush deepen on Ginny's face and decided to let her friend off the hook by changing the subject, "So I've been thinking..." and she reached for something beneath her robes. When it was finally revealed it appeared to be a butterbeer cork necklace. " Maybe I should accessorize my crazy look a little. What do you think?" And she held it for Ginny's approval.

Ginny laughed, "You know my brother's have started calling you Loony after that stunt you pulled at my birthday?"

Luna joined in with Ginny's laughter as she remembered the look on their faces. She had gone into a long description of one of her father's pet projects and she could tell they believed that she believed every word to be true. Once she wiped the tears from her cheeks and could talk normally again she considered the nickname Ginny's brother had given her, "Loony you say? Ginny nodded as she hadn't quite stopped laughing yet, "Hmmm...has a certain ring to it don't you think?" She paused at Ginny's quizzical look, "Well they've already started the work for me haven't they. Loony Lovegood...let people think I'm crazy just with a name." Ginny marveled how Luna could find a silver lining in just about anything.

She was just about to share her concerns with Luna's new persona when Hermione returned looking worried. "They're no where on the train. I've been end to end and nothing. I wonder what happened to them." She asked rhetorically as she took the seat next to Ginny. "The terms not even started and they're probably in trouble already." She said with a huff. Ginny shared a look with Luna. She was so close to her, without her brothers around, and still she couldn't find anything to say. Luna started up a conversation with Hermione and eventually Ginny started to relax. Luna told Hermione about what she'd done at Ginny's birthday and they spent the next few hours discussing her plans.

…

After the sweet trolley had come and gone and the three of them enjoyed a comfortable silence for most of the rest of the ride. Ginny could clearly see that Hermione was worried about Ron, Harry and the possible trouble they might cause for Gryffindor. Ginny tried to think of something to say to ease her mind but nothing came to mind and she turned to look out the window.

She found that if she sat at just the right angle she could observe Hermione without being noticed. Sure her reflection was a little distorted due to the glass but Ginny thought she was beautiful nonetheless. She wondered vaguely what had happened to Ron but wasn't too concerned. She had just been distracted by a set of lights in the clouds when Hermione broke the silence, "We're getting close, we should get our robes on." She pulled her robes from her rucksack and waved her wand over them quickly to remove the wrinkles and then slipped them on.

Ginny had watched her and thought she looked better in just her muggle clothes. Ginny and Luna pulled their own robes over their heads and Hermione kindly repeated the spell that would remove the wrinkles. As the wand passed over the clothes she was grateful to Hermione for her help. Her robes were second hand and needed all the help they could get. As Ginny's and Hermione's eye met Ginny noticed a small blush creep onto Hermione's cheeks but before she could wonder why the train had started to slow down. "Thanks Hermione..."She said quietly.

Hermione smiled at the young girl and wondered why her cheeks suddenly felt a little warm. "C'mon you two...I'll get you to Hagrid then I'll see you in the Great Hall after the sorting." The two younger witches nodded and followed her towards an exit.

Once outside Hermione led the two girls over to Hagrid and was about to head to the carriages when she noticed a scared look on Ginny's face, "It's okay Ginny...the boats steer themselves and you'll be nice and warm in the castle in no time. She said placing a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder. Ginny just nodded and headed off down the path to where the boats sat tethered. She was glad the walk down to the boat's was a little tricky...it meant she didn't have to talk and could just enjoy the lingering warmth of Hermione's hand on her shoulder. She thought about it during the whole boat ride long after the feeling had faded and only looked up when she saw Hogwart's fast approaching above them. She heard all the tales from her brothers but someone seeing it in person made her feel small and she shifted herself on the seat closer to Luna.

Luna looked at her friend when she sensed her get a little closer, "You going to keep that promise? No matter what houses were sorted into?" Ginny nodded and Luna felt a little better. As much as she hoped they would be sorted into the same houses, Luna could tell that Ginny really wanted to be in Gryffindor and she could see why. Her usually talkative best friend had barely uttered a word during their whole trip but she had caught her friend staring at the older witch when she thought know no one would notice. Yes, she thought sadly...she had hoped to share a dorm with Ginny but she doubted very much that that would happen. Oh well, she thought seeking that ever elusive silver lining...at least her friend would be happy.

…

The were greeted at the dock under the school by Professor Mcgonagall. A stern looking witch Ginny remembered her mother talking about fondly. The first years were all pretty quiet as they followed her to a small room off the great hall. The teacher looked at her frightened new charges and attempted to put them at ease, "Now you'll all wait here while the other students are seated and..." she was interrupted by a loud crashing noise that seemed to come from somewhere outside the castle, she frowned and then continued her usual speech, "I'll come and get you when the sorting is ready to start." She turned and left the first years to their quiet mutterings.

A little while later she came back for them and lead them to the front of the great hall. Ginny looked around in wonder. Even though she'd been around magic her whole life and heard descriptions of the great hall she was still amazed. She turned to look at the doors of the hall when she thought she heard them open but she couldn't see anyone there and instead her gaze landed on a worried looking Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Ginny's brow furrowed a little bit when she realised that Ron and Harry seemed to still be missing. Her attention was called back to the front of the room as the battered old hat on the stool began it's song. "They're still not here," she whispered to Luna. Her friend shrugged and tried to listen to the hat's song.

They waited patiently as their fellow first years were sorted. Ginny let her mind wander until it was Luna's turn to be sorted. She watched as her friend assumed a faraway look and seemed to float to the stool. Ginny chuckled a little, Luna was already working it. Her grin faded however when Luna was sorted into Ravenclaw almost as soon as the hat touched her head. No one but Ginny, who knew her friend so well would have noticed it, but she could swear Luna looked a little sad as she wandered off to the cheering Ravenclaw table.

Soon it was Ginny's turn and she tried to muster all the confidence she had as she took her place on the stool. She jumped a little when she heard a quiet voice in her head..."Hmmm...another Weasley eh? Should put you in Gryffindor with the rest your family..." Ginny thought of Luna, "or perhaps Ravenclaw?The mind is sharp enough and you could be with your friend..." How did it know she thought, and then a image of Hermione smiling came to mind, "hmmm...but another seems to have a pull on you as well. Very interesting indeed...well I guess then it ought to be GRYFFINDOR" the hat yelling the houses' name. She shot a quick look at her friend then hurried to empty space Hermione had made beside her.

As she approached the table Ginny realised that this would be the first time she would be alone with her and started to think about things she could say as she walked to her spot. She sat down next to her and returned Hermione's smile. They both turned to listen to last few students be sorted and just as Ginny was about to ask Hermione if she'd seen the boys yet a man with flowing black robes and hair that was just as black and greasy approached Professor McGonagall with a look of glee and triumph on his face, "Wonder what he's so happy about?" She glanced towards the doors and then back at the teachers. She had a bad feeling this had something to do with the boys absence. Before she could continue her thought out loud the two teachers passed the girls as they exited the hall. Hermione noted that Professor Mcgonagall seem worried and somewhat irritated while Snape looked like he was just about ready to skip behind her. She turned to Professor Dumbledore as he started his speech then food appeared on the plates in front of them. Just as Dumbledore sat and began to serve himself, Snape returned looking even happier and approached them. After a quick discussion the two wizards left the hall. Hermione shook her head and began filling her plate. No this didn't look good she thought.

The two witches sat in silence as they ate the wonderful food and Ginny was just about to ask Hermione about the comment she had made about the happy looking Professor when he returned, no longer looking quite so happy. Shortly after Dumbledore, then McGonagall returned to enjoy the feast. Both teachers looked happy and almost as if they were sharing a private joke. Hermione finally relaxed and was about to put Ginny's mind at ease when Dumbledore began his speech in earnest. The two girls turned to listen and then stood with the rest of the class.

"Ginny" Hermione started, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder to get her attention, "You head off with the first years...I'm going to go see if I can find out what's going on." Ginny turned to the prefect calling over the first and followed them out of the great hall.

Hermione watched the young girl join the rest of the first years and then turned to the staff table. She was too scared to ask Dumbledore but she felt okay approaching the head of Gryffindor house, Professor McGonagall, "Ah Miss Granger. Don't tell me you already have questions about homework ?"

Hermione smiled, "No Professor...I'm worried about Harry and Ron. They never got on the train and …" She paused as she saw a look cross her professor's face.

"They're fine Miss Granger. Though your friend Mr. Weasley ought to think before he acts..."she answered as she steered Hermione towards the hall's exit, " They're probably on their way back to the tower by now...I forgot to tell them the password...could you try to catch up to them so they can get in?" Hermione nodded, "Thank you Hermione. As much as it would serve them right to sleep outside the comfort of their dorms for a night the both seemed rather tired from their latest adventure." She paused as she attempted to get Professor Sprout's attention," oh yes, the password is wattlebird. Good evening Miss Granger."

As Hermione pondered what her teacher had told her and started the trek up to her common room...as she crossed the entrance hall she overheard the two teacher's talking "It's the willow ," she said," Seems those two couldn't get on the train for some reason and decided it would be a good idea to take a flying car and drive to Hogwarts...those two I swear..."was the last Hermione heard as the two teachers exited the castle.

Hermione shook her head and thought she knew what had happened. She quickly rushed up the stairs to find Harry and Ron talking in front on the portrait hole She attempted to scold them but the portrait hole swung open and hands pulled the two boys inside. "Boys" she muttered as she followed them. She watched them till they had escaped to their dormitory and then turned to head up to her own. She scanned the room quickly for the long red hair of Ginny and gave her a small wave before heading up.

Ginny had returned the wave and watched as Hermione disappeared up the stairs. She sighed and headed towards her own. She thought of her diary as she climbed the stairs and wondered if Tom had any advice on what to say to Hermione but, by the time she had changed her into pajamas, it was all she could do to find a safe spot for her diary, crawl into bed and fall fast asleep.

A/N Hope you're enjoying the story so far. The inspiration to write came to me for two reasons. I found myself addicted to the wonderful stories of MadameCissy, if you're liking this story so far I highly suggest you check her out. NEXT: the inspiration for this story. I've read a bunch of fan fics that have Hermione pairing up with witches old enough to be her grandmother or, at the very least, her mother. While Hermione may be very mature for her age I started to wonder what could have happened if she'd hooked up with a different Weasley...What if Ginny's crush wasn't on Harry? I will be continuing this story right through Deathly Hallows and beyond. I already have so many ideas for the following books and have even written a few chapters already. I welcome reviews, suggestions, questions and ideas. Although I'm writing this mostly for my own pleasure I'm over the moon that others seem to enjoying it as well. This chapter is the longest so far and I suspect they'll only get longer as I progress.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be following timelines to the books and including important dialogue word for word. However, this is not the Harry Potter we all know and love. It will also include my odd sense of humor...enjoy!


	6. Hermione's Secret

Ginny woke slowly the next morning, savouring the dream she'd just had. She rolled onto her side and pulled her pillow to her chest. She closed her eyes and recalled the dream. It had started from the time Hermione had waved to her before ascending the stairs.

Ginny was watching Hermione watch Ron and Harry. Hermione turned to her as if she could feel the young witch's eyes on her and waved. Ginny weakly waved back and sighed. "Why don't you talk to her," a boy’s voice said in her head.

"I can't Tom... I just..."she answered the voice.

"Well it looks as though you haven't much of a choice... she's coming this way."

Ginny's heart started to beat harder as she realised Hermione was indeed coming her way. "Hi Hermione... what's up with those two?" Ginny asked and was shocked how easily the words came out and how confident she sounded. Hermione related what had happened and the two talked for a while. Ginny marveled at how easy it was to talk to Hermione. It was almost as if they'd been friends forever.

"C'mon you,” Hermione said as Ginny tried to stifle a yawn; “it's been a long day and we both want to be rested for class tomorrow," she added as she stood and held a hand out Ginny to help her up from the chair. The spark between their hands intensified and they both squeezed before letting go. "I'll walk you up to your dorm, okay?"

"Thanks, Hermione," she replied when what she really wanted to do was hold her hand again. Together they walked up to Ginny's dorm. At the door Hermione pulled her into a warm hug. Ginny's arms snaked around her waist and she felt as though she was melting into the girl's body. A slow warm flush gradually spread itself from her very core to her fingertips. Hermione sighed and pulled away slightly causing Ginny to tighten her arms.  
Hermione leaned back a little to look at the young girl's face. She cupped her hand under Ginny's chin so she could raise the girl's face and look her in the eye; "It’s okay, Gin, I'll be right upstairs." She leaned in and placed a light kiss on the girl's forehead. "I'll see you in the morning". She turned and headed up the stairs to her own dorm.

Ginny sadly watched as she climbed the stairs. She watched until she had heard Hermione's door close on the next floor up. Sighing, she absentmindedly touched her forehead where she could swear she could still feel Hermione's lips.

Ginny opened her eyes again, relishing the feeling the dream had left her with. As she got up and got ready to face her first her day she could have sworn she heard a boy chuckle quietly. She stopped brushing her hair and looked around. Glancing at the time she grabbed her books and diary and headed down for breakfast.  
….  
Hermione headed down to the Great Hall with the boys the next morning. She was still a little peeved at them for getting into trouble before the term had even started but she was also rather amused. She had decided to not let the boys off so easy though. Besides, her silent treatment of them gave her the perfect excuse to get lost in her thoughts.

After sitting down in the Great Hall and assembling her breakfast she decided to prop up "Voyages with Vampires" against a jug and hide behind it. She wasn't really all that interested in it but she had a funny feeling what their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class was going to be about and she wanted to be prepared. She was determined to always be prepared.

She was distracted from her thoughts when the post owls arrived and an ancient owl landed into the jug that was propping up her book. "Errol!" She looked up at Ron's gasp and looked at the owl, "Oh no…"

Hermione inspected the owl and prodded it with a tentative finger. "It's all right, he's still alive, " she said.

"It's not that… it's that!" he said pointing at the red envelope.

"What's the big deal she thought?" Hermione thought.

"She'... she's sent me a Howler!" Hermione looked back at the innocent looking envelope and smiled, "So that's a Howler…" she thought and sat back in amusement to listen to exactly what Ron's mother was about to yell. "STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE..." Hermione turned out the rest with effort and looked around the hall to gauge peoples’ reactions. She smiled when she noticed Ginny and Luna talking quietly and giggling. Their eyes met and Ginny smiled. Hermione smiled back. "Her whole face changes when she smiles. She lights right up," she thought.  
…  
Ginny had met up with Luna in the corridor and together they walked down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. Ginny filled her in on what happened with the boys. Luna stopped her just before they entered the hall. "You look different this morning Gin, what's up?" she asked

"What do you mean I ‘look different’?"

"I don't know... it's almost like you're glowing". Ginny blushed as she remember her most recent dream.

"Hmm... well I did sleep really well last night..." she replied. She was thinking of sharing the dream with Luna when they heard what sounded like her Mum's voice bellowing from the hall. "What in the..." Ginny trailed off as they entered the hall to see Ron trying to hide under the table, his mother's voice still echoing around the hall. She looked up from her brother to see Hermione looking at her and she smiled, the warm feeling from her dream returned. The feeling only increased when she realised that Hermione had smiled at her first..

"Gin?" Luna tried to get her attention after her mother's echoing voice finally faded; "See you in class?"

"Yeah, okay..." she replied before wandering off to the Gryffindor table.  
…  
After they had all received their new schedules Hermione and the boys headed off across the castle grounds towards their first Herbology class of the year. She figured the embarrassment of the Howler had punished the boys enough and decided to start joking with them to try to lift their spirits. As they got closer to the greenhouses they saw Professors Sprout and Lockhart coming from the direction of the Whomping Willow. The former looking disgruntled and exasperated. Lockhart however was grinning and spouting off pompously. She was starting to have a sneaking suspicion about Lockhart but she was waiting for his class to pass judgement. She watched as Lockhart approached Harry and steer him away from the rest of the class. "Poor Harry," she thought and joined Ron in the greenhouse.  
…  
Ginny was happy when she got her schedule to see that she had almost a class a day with Luna and joined her for the walk to History of Magic. "I hear this class is extremely boring," she told her friend.

"It's taught by a ghost right?" Ginny nodded. "Oh Merlin... this class was boring 50 years ago..." she heard a boy's voice mutter, sounding bored. Ginny looked around for the source but there were no boys nearby. Luna noticed and turned to her friend, "Something wrong?" She asked.

"No, I just thought I heard..." but she didn't finish her sentence as they had entered the room.

After they had sat down and gotten their things together for the class Ginny felt Luna's hand on her wrist under the desk. "Gin?" She whispered, "You know you can tell me anything right?" Ginny nodded and thought, not for the first time either; "When I figure it out I'll let you know". She turned her attention to the ghost at the front of the class and for the next hour tried not to think about her dream.  
…  
Harry had finally joined them again and the class began. Hermione was excited to see they would be working with Mandrakes and was the first to paraphrase the textbooks description earning Gryffindor twenty points. They put on the earmuffs that lay on the table and she turned her attention to Professor Sprout's demonstration. She knew the theory on how to re-pot Mandrakes of course, but she wanted to make she did it properly. She knew the little blighters could be stubborn and wanted to see if there was easier way to do it. Their teacher gave the thumbs up and they all removed their earmuffs while she explained the day's lesson.

They were joined at their table by a Hufflepuff who introduced himself; "Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said brightly, shaking Harry's hand; "Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter... and you're Hermione Granger… always top in everything..." Hermione beamed. "If you only knew the truth,” she thought and rejoined the conversation as Justin was commenting how brave Lockhart was. "He's brave alright... just not in the way you all think," she smirked.  
…  
When Luna and Ginny exited the History of Magic classroom, Luna said thoughtfully; "You know… that stuff would be halfway interesting in someone else's hands."  
Ginny laughed; "You were paying enough attention to realise that too?" she asked. Luna gave her friend a quick hug and they separated to go their next class. Ginny stopped in a first floor girl's bathroom and for some reason she felt an excitement that didn't seem to be her own. She went over to the sinks to splash a little water on her face but the sink she chose didn't work. Sighing she moved to the next one.  
…  
Hermione's next class was her favorite: Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall and she was excited to found out they would be working on a spell that changed beetles to buttons. As the teacher talked about how to perform the spell she listened intently. It was one thing to know the theory by heart but quite another to do the actual spell. In no time she had a handful of perfect buttons while all Harry had managed to do was annoy his beetle as it tried to dodge his wand. She smirked and looked at Ron whose Spello-taped wand was throwing off sparks.

As they headed down to the Great Hall for lunch she heard Ron's belly make a distinct growl. Shaking her head as they entered she did a quick scan of the room.  
After lunch they headed out to the courtyard for some fresh air before their next class. Hermione sat on the steps. When she realised the boys were talking about Quidditch again she decided to take out Lockhart's book to give herself something to do.  
…  
Ginny and Luna had found their own sunny spot in the courtyard to eat their lunch. They sat on a wall, Ginny looking out towards the lake and Luna facing the door. It was Luna that saw Hermione and the boys come out. She watched as the witch settled down with a book while the boys ignored her and carried on their own conversation. Luna wondered how long it would take for Ginny to notice.

Ginny tore her gaze away from the lake and slowly turned her head like she'd caught the whiff of a sweet smelling perfume and wanted to find its source. Her eyes traveled the courtyard till she noticed Ron and Harry. It was a moment longer till she noticed Hermione sitting reading a book. She smiled and turned back to her friend. Luna was smiling at her friend; "Not long at all,” she thought.

"I wish we had potions together, Gin. As if Snape wasn't bad enough, I can't help thinking of Mum when I'm in there," she finished sadly. Ginny knew that Luna's mother had died when she was young. She was very talented witch with a tendency to experiment with her potions. One day she miscalculated and was killed instantly.

"Me too, Loon... I hear he treats the Gryffindors like crap and it would've been fun to see you pull your act on him then get top marks on your potions." The two giggled at the thought.

"Hmm... that actually might work...” she looked to Ginny to see the puzzled look on her face; "If he thinks I'm odd he'll leave me alone and then I can embarrass him when my potions are awesome." Luna had spent her hours alone since her mother died learning and making potions and was a natural at them. As much as she enjoyed them, Ginny knew Luna's obsession and prowess with potions was her own way of keeping her mother's memory alive.

"I bet your potions will be better than his in no time" Ginny assured her and they both started giggling.

The two were distracted by a drawling voice coming from where Hermione and the boys stood.

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos Potter?" Ginny looked over to see what was going on and wondered what Colin, a Gryffindor in her year, was doing standing next to Harry with a camera. "Oh no," she thought, poor Harry.

They watched in amusement at Harry's discomfort. She felt flushed with anger though when she heard the wretched snake Malfoy's latest attempt an insult reached her; "Weasley would like a signed photo Potter. It would be worth more than his whole house!"

She watched in horror as Ron yelled; "Eat slugs Malfoy!” Then aimed his broken wand at him. Ginny's attention was drawn to Hermione when she heard her book slam shut. She couldn't hear what she'd said but Ron seemed to calm down just as Professor Lockhart appeared.

"Looks like the show's over Gin... we should head to class." Ginny glanced one last time at Hermione and privately thanked her for saving Ron's neck again.  
…  
Hermione watched as Lockhart posed for a photo with Harry and then led him off, an arm still around his shoulders, towards the castle. She shook her head and turned to Ron; "C'mon, we'd better head to class," she said. She only half listened to Ron's various mutterings complaining about Malfoy, Lockhart and even little Colin.

The two entered the class to find Harry sitting right at the back of class, Lockhart's collected works piled in front of him. As Lockhart began the class Hermione adopted a look of interest and listened to what he had to say. "Wow, he really is an ass," she thought. While she admitted Lockhart was pretty in a very shallow way, she was pretty sure that he hadn't performed any of the things he was famous for and wondered who had. Hermione could tell the stories had happened, there was still a ring of truth to them, and so she listened. She figured that even if he was as inept as she thought he was, he had obviously collected the stories from somewhere and she thought she might still be able to learn something from him.

Her hopes weren't high however when she received the teacher's first quiz. As she had expected the quiz consisted of fifty-four questions about Lockhart and not any about his supposed deeds. Hermione smirked and thought; "If he asked questions about the spells he used I doubt he'd understand the answers".  
Hermione knew that most of her classmates and even some of the teachers thought she was a know it all. Secretly, she relished the title. What no knew was that Hermione had, what Muggles called, a photographic memory and was highly intelligent as well. When she was still in Muggle school her parents had her tested and were delighted to find that her I.Q. was somewhere over a hundred and fifty, making her a genius. Before she was contacted by Hogwarts her parents had been trying to get her enrolled in a school for gifted children. When McGonagall had visited her parents to explain Hermione's abilities, and subsequently transformed into a cat and back again to prove magic's existence, she remembered her mother remarking that they'd never realised just how "gifted" their daughter truly was.  
Those two things combined with an innate ability to know what each teacher was looking for in their answers was what had allowed her to excel in all her classes. She sometimes felt guilty at how easy the answers would come to her as others around her struggled. She had decided early in her first year that it would be easier to let her friends and classmates think she just studied a lot. If they'd know the truth she felt they would be jealous. On top of that Hermione felt it necessary to excel in all things to prove that even Muggleborns like herself could become amazing witches.

There was one other reason she tried to answer all the questions the teachers would ask: just about every time she answered a question she was awarded points for her house. At the end of last year she had mentally added up all the points she had won versus all those points that she, Harry and Ron had lost and was surprised to find she'd won them more points than they had lost. She figured that if she, Ron and Harry were going to continue to lose them points, the least she could do was try to even it out and it made her feel better about her non-magical "gifts" to think of it that way.  
She looked down in surprise at her "quiz" to see that she was finished and handed her paper back to the smiling man. He shuffled through the papers looking a little disappointed that not everyone knew his favorite color was lilac or his ideal birthday gift. Until he got to Hermione's parchment.

"Where is Miss Hermione Granger?" He asked. Harry and Ron seemed to think she had a crush on Lockhart and, deciding to play it for all it was worth, raised a trembling hand in the air. "Excellent," he beamed; "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business..." With the points she'd already earned in her first two classes her total was already at fifty points. If she kept it up she thought she could just about win the house cup all her own.

Lockhart removed the sheet from a cage at the front of the class with a flourish. "Freshly caught Cornish Pixies," he announced.  
Hermione stifled her laugh a little better than some of her classmates but was still a little surprised when the teacher opened the cage and let the pixies out; "Idiot," she thought. She knew the pixies weren't necessarily dangerous but they could be a pain, especially in the numbers Lockhart had released. Plus, she thought, it's not like he told us how we're supposed to deal with them.

The class erupted in chaos as the mischievous pixies enjoyed their new found freedom. Neville, a fellow Gryffindor was hanging from the chandelier and windows were broken showering everyone with glass. The best was when Lockhart stood to his full height, pointed his wand at the pixies and shouted; "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" And nothing happened. Well not nothing, a pixie stole his wand and threw it out the window. "Well at least he won't hurt us with it,” she thought with a grin.

The bell rang and the students headed towards the door to escape. She, Harry and Ron were the last to leave and had just reached the door when Lockhart called to them, "Well, I'll ask you three to just nip the rest back into their cage,” he said as he swept past them and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Can you believe him?" roared Ron. No, Hermione sighed, she really couldn't. Her innate respect for all teachers took a hit. She remembered that the boys believed she had a crush on the teacher and enjoyed the looks on their faces as she "defended" him.

"He just wants to give up some hands-on experience," she said. Personally, any chance to actually perform magic was okay with her. She immobilised two pixies with a single freezing charm then put them in their cage.

"Hands on?" said Harry, "Hermione he had no clue what he was doing!"

She privately agreed however answered instead; "Rubbish, you've read his books… look at all those things he's done."

"He says he's done," Ron muttered.

“Wow,” she thought, “Ron does have a couple of brain cells.”


	7. Tom's Agenda

Ginny sat quietly at the Gryffindor house table picking at her dinner. She wasn't really hungry. She pushed her plate away and wandered out of the hall. She wasn't sure when it happened but, sometime during the day she felt the warmth of her dream fade to be replaced by a growing weariness. She kind of lost track of where she was going and was surprised to find herself opening the door to the first floor girl's washroom again. She went to walk to sink she knew to be working but found herself drawn to the broken one. "You can do it..." a quiet voice assured her. She looked up startled and searched the bathroom. It was definitely a boy's voice.

"Hello?" She asked tentatively.

"Hello, Ginny," the voice replied awfully close to her and she frantically looked around again. "Calm yourself. It's me Ginny, Tom. "

"But how are you talking to me?" She asked aloud.

"She's perceptive," Tom thought, "I'll have to word this just right. She's a Pure-blood. A blood traitor, yes, but still a Pure-blood. This can work."

"You're the only one who can hear me Ginny. I had a lot of time to think during your ghost teacher's lecture." Ginny remembered the voice she had heard as she entered the classroom. "Yes, that was me. I was a student here in my youth. I created this diary to try and help others with the kind of problems I had in school." Yes, he thought, that's good. "I've found over the years that once in a while someone really trusts me. When that happens I can talk to them, like I'm talking to you." He felt the young girl's body relax slightly.

"So you can hear my thoughts?" She asked somewhat horrified at some of things he might have overheard.

Tom suppressed a chuckle. "Like I have any interests in your daydreams," he thought but instead answered in what he thought he was a kindly voice; "It's okay Ginny," he soothed, "Unless we're talking directly I don't really hear specific things. More just the feelings... if you're upset, scared or worried I listen a little harder. But," he warned, "I have to be with you at all times for it to work."

Ginny considered Tom's words for a moment; "So," she thought, "you listen when I need you?"

She is perceptive he thought. "Exactly," he answered. He left her alone with her own thoughts for a moment while he pondered how to word his request. "Ginny?" He asked; "Would do me a favor?"

"What do you mean favor?" She asked without speaking.

She's a fast learner he thought, pleased. "When I was in school I discovered a hidden passage that opens in this very bathroom." Ginny looked around the bathroom again and found herself drawn to the broken sink. "I left something in the passage that is vitally important to the wizarding world. I need to find out if it's still there. If it is, it could change everything."

"Well it's true," he thought. She doesn't need to know what it is or how it will change everything. And he had left it behind when it all became too dangerous. This time would be different. It was all going to change. "Very good," he said, "you're very smart." He felt Ginny surge with pride. "Oh this is going to be fun," he thought, and then continued, "Say aloud the words…" and then he made a horrible hissing choking noise.

"What is that?" She thought, horrified at the noise.

"It's the password. It had to be difficult. I didn't want just anyone to find the entrance. Now please, try," he encouraged. Ginny tried for ten minutes unsuccessfully before admitting defeat. "No," Tom thought, "I will not be denied."

"Just relax Ginny, breath..." he said and felt the girl take several deep breaths and slowly her body relaxed. "Good... now empty your mind..."

As she did Tom slowly took control of the young girl's body and then, using her mouth, hissed the password. He roared in triumph as the sink in front of him gracefully lowered into the floor to reveal the secret passage he thought he'd never see again. He felt the young witch's energy start to ebb and said the words in his strange language to reclose it before giving Ginny back control.

Ginny slumped to her knees exhausted. She looked up in time to see the broken sink as it slid back into place. "You did it Ginny, well done..." He felt the girl cheer up a little; "but you're tired, time for bed..."

Ginny admitted to herself that she was indeed exhausted and slowly pulled herself back to her feet. "Why don't I remember opening it" She thought absently as she left the bathroom. Tom didn't reply. It had taken all his energy to pull off that much and he felt himself slipping to the back of Ginny's mind.

Before she knew it she had reached the portrait hole and entered her common room. She was pleasantly surprised to see Hermione sitting by the fire but decided not to join her. She was very tired indeed and wasn't sure she'd be able to make it to bed.

Hermione looked up as Ginny entered the staircase to the dorms. Harry and Ron had already gone to bed and she'd have liked the company. She sighed and turned back to her reading. Lockhart was full of it, she thought, but at least its light reading.

…

It was Friday evening before Tom piped up again in Ginny's head. She was sitting in the common room and slowly it had emptied around her. She had her transfiguration text in her hand but she was really just daydreaming. "Ginny..." he said quietly trying not to startle her.

"Hi Tom... what's up?" She thought. She had given a small start at Tom's voice and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Her eyes fell on Hermione sitting by the fire reading. What's more, she was alone.

"Go join her... your brother and his friend just went to bed..." he sensed her hesitation, "Go on," he urged: "you can ask about Transfiguration." She grinned, that could work, she thought, she'd only have to say a few things and then she could just listen to Hermione.

She got up from her chair and wandered over. "Um, Hermione?" She asked surprising herself that she could indeed speak. Hermione looked up and smiled at her and her new found ability almost left her. She felt a mental nudge from Tom; "I was wondering if you could help me with my Transfiguration homework?"

"Sure Ginny," She replied, patting the spot on the couch next to her. Ginny briefly hesitated and sat down. "What are you having trouble with?"

Ginny panicked and opened her text at random. Hermione leaned over to look at the text putting her arm around Ginny to get closer. "Yes, I remember having trouble with that..." Ginny quickly realized she didn't understand a word Hermione was saying and thought ruefully that paying attention would have been hard enough even if she could understand.

Hermione's closeness was almost overwhelming. She could the feel her arm draped casually around her shoulder. The soft rise and fall as she breathed. Her hair tickled Ginny's cheek. Ginny was able to pay just enough attention to Hermione's words to nod or ask the occasional question. Anything, she thought, to prolong this moment. She hadn't felt this alive in days and didn't want the feeling to end. She inhaled deeply and caught just a hint of vanilla coming from her.

She let the little attention she had slip only to find Hermione looking at her expectantly, "Um, thanks Hermione. That helped a lot." Hermione smiled and Ginny felt warmth spread through her.

"Ginny can I ask you something?" Ginny nodded so she continued; "Ron keeps saying you have a crush on Harry. Is that true?" Ginny blushed. "It's okay ya know, if you want to talk about it." She said kindly, mistaking Ginny's blush for confirmation.

"Oh Merlin she thought, she thinks I like Harry," and almost laughed. She had started to blush before Hermione's question. She had been thinking how nice it would be to just cuddle up with her on the couch when she had asked. "No I don't like Harry..." Hermione raised an eyebrow; "I mean I like him, he a nice guy and all, but I don't like him that way." For some reason she thought she felt Hermione relax a little.

"Oh..."

"Why do you ask?" She was curious.

"Oh it's nothing... I just thought if it's true maybe you'd like to come down to Hagrid's with us tomorrow and hang out with Harry a bit." Ginny desperately tried to think of a way she could still be invited without it looking suspicious. She had just about come up with an idea when she had the nagging feeling she was forgetting something she was supposed to be doing the next morning.

She sighed as she answered; "Thanks for the thought but I'm hanging out with Luna tomorrow morning," the excuse falling easily from her lips. She then felt exhausted again and yawned. "I'm going to head to bed, thanks again Hermione for," holding me she thought, but continued instead, "for everything". It was almost painful to her to pull herself away from Hermione and head up to her dorm.

Hermione watched as Ginny walked away. It was so nice sitting here with Ginny. So comfortable being so close. She hadn't wanted it to end. She gathered her things and headed to bed. "I knew she didn't have a crush on Harry," she thought to herself and smiled. She stopped midway up the stairs. "Why I am so happy about that?" She wondered and then told herself that she just liked being right.

…

Hermione woke early the next morning due to the birds making an awful racket. She couldn't get back to sleep and headed down to the common room after she'd dressed in a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. She took her usual seat by the fire and found herself daydreaming when Ron wondered out of the boys' dormitory. "Why are you up so early?" She asked him.

He yawned loudly and answered; "Got woke up at the crack of dawn by Wood. I fell back asleep after he left but Harry left me note saying he's headed down to the pitch for practice."

"Great," thought Hermione; "Quidditch". She sighed and looked at Ron. "Let's head down for breakfast then head out to watch the practice. We'll go down to Hagrid's after." Ron nodded and they headed out

...

Ginny awoke then sighed as she listened to the sounds of her dorm mates sleeping. "Good morning Ginny..."

"Hi Tom."

"Why don't you go visit Hagrid with Luna? Maybe you'll see Hermione there?" She looked out the window and smiled. It did seem like it was going to be a beautiful day.

"But she never said when they were going..."

"I would think they'd head down right after breakfast. If you go down soon maybe you could catch up to them?" Thinking that sounded good Ginny dressed quickly and headed down to the Great Hall. When she got there she didn't see Hermione or the boys. She looked around and saw Luna sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table. She chuckled lightly at the sight of her friend. In her attempt to accessorize her act Luna had taken to placing her wand behind her ear and still sported the Butterbeer cork necklace.

"Hey Luna..." she greeted her friend, sitting down on the bench next to her, "fancy a walk?"

"Hey you... yes, that would be nice. Any particular destination?"

"Yes," then hesitated, she needed a reason to go see Hagrid. "Did you hear the stupid roosters this morning?" Luna shook her head, "They were really loud and I kind of want to go see them."

"Why?"

"Why indeed," she thought and then came up with a plausible reason; "Well Ron's told me Hagrid has this weird monster obsession and I have a funny feeling those roosters might not be normal."

Curiosity piqued, Luna answered; "That sounds like fun... let's go"

"Well that was easy," Ginny thought. When did lying to her best friend get so easy? And where in the world had she come up with roosters of all things? She hadn't heard any roosters this morning.

But Tom had. And they had worried him. He had to find a way to get Ginny to go down there and see how many there were so he could figure out his next move. Reminding Ginny that she might see Hermione there was all too easy. "She does seem to think about the girl an awful lot". He had to admit he found Hermione curious. She was smart, there was no doubt, but obviously blind in some ways as well. He really didn't care that his "friend" Ginny seemed to be developing quite the crush on the clever witch but he was glad to have an excuse to keep on eye her. He was worried that Hermione might find a way to thwart his plans and that he could not allow. He wouldn't outright hurt the girl he thought, that would just break Ginny and he needed her whole. Well, at least for the moment.

As Ginny and Luna wandered down to Hagrid's they talked and laughed about nothing in particular. Once they reached Hagrid's hut they searched for the roosters and found them in a pen out back. They continued their chat as they watched the roosters and chickens. Luna was telling Ginny about how her latest stunt in Snape's class had gone when they were interrupted by Hagrid.

"Hey you two... what do think you're doing?" He asked grumpily behind them.

"Oh hey Hagrid," Ginny said, turning around to speak to him. "We haven't officially met. I'm Ginny Weasley and this is my friend Luna Lovegood."

"I heard the Weasley's daughter was starting this year. Nice to meet ya..." he said smiling through his beard, "but um, what are you doing here?"

"Well, the roosters woke me up this morning and they sounded really loud so Luna and I thought we'd check them out. See if they were as big as they sounded."

"Nope... they're just regular roosters," he answered." If you really want to see something big you should check out the pumpkins," he said proudly and then led the two girls over to where they were.

"I don't know what you've done to them Hagrid but it seems to be working."

Ginny could see that her friend was uncomfortable and decided they should head back to the castle. They had been there a while and no Hermione. "Well thanks Hagrid, it was nice seeing you." She said taking Luna's hand and walking away.

"He's a little scary don't you think?" Luna asked.

Ginny let her friend's hand go and answered; "Who? Hagrid?" She nodded. "No he's a big old teddy bear." And then told Luna the story Ron had told her about Hagrid giving a dragon a teddy bear the previous year.

As they got closer to the castle she noticed a group of people standing near the Quidditch pitch and she and Luna wandered over to see what was happening. It seemed that the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams were gathered and were arguing about something. Her heart leapt as she recognized Hermione and Ron join the fray. She and Luna edged a little closer.

The snakes had just roared with laughter when she heard Hermione silence them with a comment; "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in... they got in on pure talent." Ginny was surprised that Hermione was defending the Gryffindor team so vehemently. She'd thought Hermione had no interest in the sport.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood, " Malfoy spat. Ginny felt her blood boil.

"He's going to pay for that," she thought, "no one insults Hermione like that." But before she could react all hell broke loose. She watched in amusement as she saw the twins lunge towards Malfoy and then she heard Ron yell; "You'll pay for that Malfoy!" A long bang echoed around the grounds and Ron suddenly hunched over and fell to the ground. The snakes had burst into laughter again as the Gryffindors surrounded Ron.

Ginny thought she heard Harry say something about taking her brother to Hagrid's and watched as he and Hermione supported Ron and they headed off in that direction.

"Oh darn," Luna said, getting Ginny's attention, "it looks like we just missed them..." she finished and looked to Ginny's face for a reaction.

Ginny blushed and gave her friend a light punch on the arm when she saw her friend was smirking. Ginny looked back in the direction of Hagrid's hut and sighed. "C'mon let's get some lunch before everyone else gets there," she said as she and her friend returned to the castle.

…

Hermione and Harry half carried Ron to Hagrid's as he continued to burp up slugs in various sizes. She appreciated that Ron was trying to defend her honour but really, he had enough trouble with a proper wand let alone a broken one. They were about twenty feet away from Hagrid's when the door opened to reveal Lockhart talking to Hagrid. "Quick, behind here," Harry hissed as pulled them behind a bush. She couldn't hear what the idiot was saying to Hagrid but they waited until he had passed before leaving their hiding spot.

By the time they got to Hagrid's the door had already closed. Hermione pounded on the door and Hagrid opened it quickly looking grumpy. "Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me-come in, come in… thought you might have been Professor Lockhart come back again." They helped Ron inside. Hagrid handed him a bucket; "Better out than in. Get 'em all up, Ron."

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," Hermione informed them, "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand..." Ron nodded as another rather large slug fell from his mouth. Hermione was absolutely revolted and wanted to leave, but as Ron had gotten himself in this mess on her behalf, she decided to stick it out and distracted herself by watching Hagrid make tea.

Harry asked him about Lockhart's visit and they spent the next ten minutes listen to Hagrid rant about the idiot. It was cheering Hermione up considerably until Hagrid asked who Ron had been trying to curse.

"Malfoy called her 'Mudblood', Hagrid…" Ron just managed to get out before he was hit with another wave of slugs.

"He didn'" he growled.

She knew exactly what Malfoy was implying, but for Harry's benefit who clearly looked confused, she said; "He did, but I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course..." and they waited for them to explain. Hermione tuned out for a bit while they discussed it. Being called a Mudblood didn't bother her as much as the thought that Malfoy thought that, just because he was a pure blood, it made him better than everyone else. It was the sense of entitlement he walked around with the all the time that annoyed her.

She had more magic in her little finger than Malfoy had on his best day and yet she knew his attitude wasn't really that uncommon. One too many time she'd seen the look of surprise on someone's face when she mentioned her parents were both Muggles. It was the main reason she worked so hard in all her classes. She never wanted to hear someone say; "She's just a Muggleborn, no wonder she isn't any good."

The four of them headed out to Hagrid's pumpkin patch when Hermione decided to rejoin the conversation, they were absolutely huge and Hermione suspected magic was involved. "An engorgement charm, I suppose?" she asked and noticed Hagrid looking slyly at his pink umbrella. She decided to let him off the hook. "Well you've done a good job on them."

"That's what Ron's little sister said when she was down here this morning," he said, nodding at Ron, "Met her just a little while before you lot showed up. Said she wanted to see th' roosters because she thought maybe they were really big they were so loud this morning. Told her if she wanted to see something big she ought to check out the pumpkins. Reckon she was really here hoping to run into someone else at my house," he winked at Harry, "bet she wouldn't mind a signed photo."

"Oh shut up," Harry retorted, blushing. Ron laughed so hard that a fresh wave of slugs splattered the pumpkins. As Hagrid shooed them away from his pumpkins Hermione thought to herself; "Why is everyone so convinced Ginny has a crush on Harry?" She knew for a fact that wasn't true but as it seemed to bug Harry she decided not to tell them the truth. But then she realised something... why had Ginny come down here this morning? She smiled. "If we hadn't gone to watch Harry practice we would have seen her here. Hmm, she thought maybe Ginny does have a crush on someone but it isn't Harry.

They had just entered the Entrance Hall when they were approached by Professor McGonagall. Hermione listened in amusement as the two boys found out what their detentions would involve. After having heard the whole story from the boys about what had happened at the train station and why they took the car she had understood their, albeit, faulty logic. Hermione chuckled when she heard that Harry's punishment would be helping Lockhart answer his fan mail. "Oh god, Harry is going to love that."

They headed into the Great Hall to eat, although the boys didn't seem too hungry anymore. Hermione smiled to herself that maybe she'd get a chance to hang out with Ginny again since the boys wouldn't be around.

…

Ginny had just woken from a nap when she heard Tom's voice again. "Hey Ginny, you up for a little adventure now that you've slept?"

"What you have got in mind?" She asked.

"Well since we got that passage open last night I was wondering if we could go see if my pet project was still there. What do you think?"

Ginny hesitated. She still couldn't remember the passage opening but she was getting a little curious over what Tom's "pet project" was. "Sure why not?" she answered. Ginny grabbed her diary, slipped into her robes and headed out.

…

Tom knew this little adventure was going to be difficult. It had taken all his energy to get the passage open the first time. But until he could take Ginny over completely he would have to do his best. It was vital to know if his "pet project" had survived. He patiently waited at the back of Ginny's mind until they reached the bathroom. "Okay, so relax, breathe and clear your mind." He waited as she followed his instructions and then slowly invaded her mind before taking over completely. He knew he had to be quick as he wasn't sure how long he could maintain this level of control.

Quickly he hissed out the password and sent Ginny down the shoot. It was dirty and slimy; clearly no one else had found the chamber he thought smugly. With a soft thump they landed at the bottom. He lit Ginny's wand and made her run towards the Chamber's true entrance. He stared at the door reminiscing about the last time he'd been there and the havoc he'd created. He let out his hissing password again and the door opened to reveal the Chamber of Secrets. It was a stupid name, he thought, but who was he to question the great Salazar Slytherin?

He entered the Chamber and listened for a moment and then he yelled out in his hissing voice again, trying to call forth the monster that lived there.

"Rise my precious. Rise and resume the work we started so very long ago. I have new and delicious students for you to feed on my sweet." He was gratified to hear a low hissing respond. He felt his excitement mount as he watched the giant sleepy snake emerge from the mouth of the large statue of Salazar Slytherin. The giant snake came to rest at his feet. Despite his excitement that his pet still lived he could feel his control on Ginny beginning to ebb. I need to get her back to the bathroom.

"What is you wish of me master?" The snake asked.

"You must regain your strength my friend and then we are going to unleash chaos on this school while we purge all the Mudblood, traitors and filth that now pollute this place."

The snake seemed a little too eager to get started. "Come... come to me... let me rip for you... let me tear for you... let me kill for you…" the snake replied.

"Soon, soon my friend. For now I need you to help me back to the bathroom entrance. I am still very weak as well..."

"Yes, Master," the snake laid himself at Ginny's feet while she climbed on its back. The snake and its Master ascended the chute from the bathroom easily. Ginny rolled off its back and onto the floor. Tom had just enough energy to whisper the password again and then he released Ginny from his control.

Ginny came back to her surroundings as the sink slid back into place. She looked at her robes and realised they were covered in slime. What was she doing here? And why was she so dirty?

She tried to perform a simple cleaning spell she'd seen her mother use a thousand times but gave up when she didn't have the energy. Slowly she made her way back to her dorm and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.


	8. It Begins

The first trip to the Chamber had weakened Tom's hold on Ginny considerably and he needed to distract the young witch or she would start to question the gaps in her memory. He felt her fall asleep as soon as she lay down and decided to reward the young girl with a particularly vivid dream.

She was back in the common room with Hermione, going over her Transfiguration text. Ginny again felt the warmth and comfort she felt at the older girl's side. "Ginny?" She asked, "Is it true you have a crush on Harry?" Ginny had blushed because she was thinking how nice it would be to lay her head on Hermione's shoulder and just cuddle on the couch for a while. "It's okay, you know, if want to talk about it," Ginny considered this for a moment… could she just tell her the truth?

"Not Harry, no," she replied and slowly reached for Hermione's hand. As their hands connected the quickly becoming familiar spark between their hands returned. They interlocked their fingers and Ginny taking encouragement from the fact that Hermione had not pulled away, "I... I... I think I have a crush on you," she said, staring intently at their interlocked hands. "Please Merlin...don't let her hate me..." she thought.

They sat quietly for a moment, still holding hands. She felt Hermione shift her weight. Thinking she was uncomfortable Ginny went to take her hand from Hermione's but was surprised when Hermione's grip on her hand only tightened. "Ginny I... I was hoping you might say that." Startled Ginny looked up to see Hermione's beaming face.

"R- really?" She asked in a small voice.

Hermione smiled and gazed into her eyes. Instead of answering however she leaned in and gave Ginny a soft tentative kiss on the lips. As she pulled away Ginny leant into her, trying to keep Hermione's lips on her own. They kissed again and this time Hermione managed to succeed when she tried to pull away. She didn't go far and leaned her forehead against Ginny. "I knew you were too smart for Harry," she sighed, "its late Gin, we should head to bed." Ginny reluctantly agreed, and hand in hand, they ascended the stairs to the dorms. Stopping at Ginny's door Hermione took her into a hug. Ginny again felt as though she was melting into Hermione when she noticed a new sensation. It felt as though her heart wasn't content to stay in her chest. As if it felt the pull of Hermione's heart and longed to rejoin it.

Hermione gently cupped her hands around Ginny's face and laid another soft kiss on the girl's lips. "It's all going to be okay now, Gin. We found each other".

Tom smiled as he felt the young girl fall deeper asleep. It wasn't as if he was giving her new dreams. He had never really understood fools that love but he had to keep Ginny happy and distracted. The easiest way it seemed was to replay events in a manner that he thought Ginny wanted things to go. Yes, he was controlling dream Hermione's actions, he really had no idea how the older girl felt, but Ginny's reactions were all her own. "Now," he thought, "it's time for me to rest" Aside from assuring his pet was still alive and well their excursion had taught Tom that he would need to start feeding on the girl's essence a little at a time if he was to achieve his ultimate goal.

When Ginny awoke the next morning she felt happy but still so tired.

"Tom?" She thought.

"Yes Ginny?"

"Do you see my dreams?"

"Sometimes," he answered, "is something bothering you?"

"Not bothering me, no... do you think there's any truth to them?"

"I'm not sure I understand..." Tom knew exactly what Ginny was trying to get at, but was annoyed that his feeding had been interrupted and so decided not to make it easy for her.

"Well the dream I had, she said she liked me too... do you think she does?"

"Interesting," Tom thought, "she didn't mention the kiss." Perhaps she wasn't quite ready for that and he decided to tone it down next time.

"I don't know Ginny... yours is the only mind I have privy to." Ginny sighed. Tom could be such a brat sometimes. Making me say it. The kiss had been nice though, she thought and blushed. When had she started to think about kissing Hermione? It was odd indeed... she's a girl... but it had felt right somehow.

"Yes," Tom thought, "definitely not ready for that. He sighed and once again retreated to the back of Ginny's mind.

September slowly turned to October and Tom felt himself getting stronger. They had checked on his pet a few times... stopping by the chute's entrance to listen and assure its growing strength. It was time to reveal his plans to the rest of the school and began storing up greater and greater amounts of energy. He knew if his plan was to succeed he'd have to take control of Ginny for the longest time yet and he wanted to make sure he was ready. "But first," he thought, "those damned roosters need to be dealt with. We need something to write on the wall with too..."

It was a week before Halloween when he decided to enact the first part of the plan and test how much stronger he had grown. He had given Ginny a particular lovely dream the night before and patiently waited for her to wake. As she stretched and tried to hold on to the remnants of her dream, Tom spoke up. "Good dream Ginny?" He felt her blush. It had been a particularly interesting dream as in it Ginny had taken the initiative and kissed Hermione first. "Feel up for a walk?" he asked.

"I suppose, where do you want to go?"

"Oh I don't know," he replied thoughtfully, trying to hide his intentions; "I thought I heard Hermione saying something about visiting Hagrid..." Ginny brightened at the thought. "Yes," he thought, "figured that might work." Although he hadn't heard Hermione say any such thing.

They went down to the Great Hall and as soon as Ginny had established that Hermione and the boys were nowhere to be seen she left again to go to Hagrid' s. Her growing excitement matched his own, though for entirely different reason as he slowly took control of the young witch again. He needed to test his ability to use Ginny's magic and this, it seemed, was the perfect opportunity.

As they reached Hagrid's hut he cast a disillusionment charm on himself and was ecstatic to feel the familiar feeling like someone had a cracked an egg over Ginny's head. "Excellent," he thought, "she's more powerful than I realized." As they reached the pen where the infernal roosters were kept, he silenced them with a charm. He had a suspicion that Hagrid was still asleep in his hut and didn't want him to wake. Nimbly they climbed over the fence and faced the birds. "Sectum Sempra," he thought, slashing Ginny's wand through the air. The two roosters fell over dead, their heads cleanly sliced from their bodies. He conjured a glass jar and collected the blood from one.

After climbing back over the fence he checked that no one had noticed. He felt powerful and strong... it had been so long since he had last used magic. He had planned to let Ginny go as they headed back towards the castle but he was enjoying the freedom of having a body again. Granted it was the body of an eleven year old girl but it would suit his needs just fine until he was able to have one of his own.

They entered the castle, still invisible to all, and went to the first floor washroom where the entrance lay hidden. He found a good spot to hide the jar of blood and then returned to Gryffindor tower. As they entered the common room he again felt his hold begin to ebb. "If I can get her to bed maybe she won't realise she'd ever left it". Once they had entered Ginny's dorm he removed the charm that had kept them invisible, removed their clothes and climbed into bed. Exhausted he relinquished his grip.

Ginny's eyes opened and she noted the time. It was late but it felt like she hadn't slept all. She picked up her robes where Tom had left them and got dressed. Just before getting ready to leave the dorm she stopped and checked her reflection in the mirror. She was astonished to find that it looked like she hadn't slept in days and her already pale skin was showing signs of rings under her eyes. She looked up to find she had a feather in her hair and wondered where she had gotten it. Shrugging at her image she put it out of her mind and went down to the common room.

She hadn't stepped two feet into the common room and barely had time to register Hermione sitting with the boys when she was accosted by her brother Percy, "You don't look well Ginny... are you okay?"

"I'm fine Perce... just a little tired."

"Here," he said handing Ginny a Pepper Up potion, "Take this, it'll make you feel better."

Ginny looked at the potion in his hand, "I'm okay Percy, really"

"No, you drink that right now!" Seeing it would be easier to just take the dumb potion she relented and swallowed it in one go.

After the steam had stopped coming out of her ears she hated to admit it, but she did indeed feel better. "Thanks Perce... can I go now? I want to see if I can find Luna..." she trailed off as she handed him back the now empty bottle and headed out the portrait hole to track down Luna.

….

Hermione had watched the interaction between Ginny and the eldest Weasley boy at Hogwarts with amusement. Ginny, she had noticed, had been looking under the weather and had hoped to say something to her but Percy had stepped up first. As funny as the young girl looked as the potion had taken effect, Hermione had to admit, it was nice to see a little color return to her cheeks. She watched as Ginny gave back the empty bottle and headed out the portrait hole, a small smile on her lips.

"I don't know Harry… I hate to miss the feast for some ghost party," said Ron, drawing her back to the conversation with the boys.

Hermione chuckled, "Always thinking with his stomach that one," she thought.

"I don't know, it might be interesting," she offered.

When Harry had mentioned his run in with Nearly Headless Nick the Gryffindor ghost and how the ghost and helped him out of trouble with Filch, Hermione had been curious and somewhat eager to check it out. She knew about the existence of Deathday parties and knew that the living rarely got a chance to attend. But Hermione was like that, curious about things she'd read.

So there the three were at five to eight Halloween night heading down to the dungeons for the party. As they drew closer the temperature began to drop and it was all she could do to not shiver. She heard the unearthly music filling the hall as she entered. She wasn't paying too much attention to Harry's conversation with Nick and had to control her immediate desire to vomit when they inspected the "food" available. There was all manner of food however it was various states of decay. Some had mould while others, Hermione was revolted to see, actually crawled with maggots. They watched as a ghost went right into the middle of the table and then glided along, his mouth open, the length of it.

"I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavour," she speculated aloud. Next they were teased by Peeves and had to endure a rather uncomfortable encounter with Moaning Myrtle. Peeves teased her mercilessly until, with a loud wail, she left the dungeon. "Odd," she thought, "Why was the Myrtle dressed in Hogwarts' robes? Did she actually die here?"

They spoke with Nick again and listened to his speech until he was upstaged by the headless horseman playing hockey with one of their heads. Hermione privately thought they had put in enough of an appearance to not seem rude. She was just about to say something to that effect when Ron piped up.

"I can't stand much more of this," he muttered, his teeth chattering.

"Let's go," Harry agreed. They attempted to make as graceful an exit as possible and then turned to run up the stairs.

"Maybe we can still have some pudding," Ron said hopefully.

Just then Harry came to a stumbled to stop; "It's that voice again… shut up a minute…"

…

Tom had let Ginny rest since dispatching the roosters and was starting to feel excited again. "Tonight," he thought, "tonight it starts." He had watched as the rest of the common room emptied, all the students heading down to the Halloween feast. Ginny had actually fallen asleep in front of the fire so taking control was so much easier this time. "Pity, really, she's having such a nice dream," he mused as he watched the dream play out. It was one of her favorites, "What's the harm of letting it play out while I complete my task?" he thought. She had had the dream many times so there was no need to tweek the events so to speak. "Maybe it can actually help me. If she's focused on the dream she won't fight me for control. And if it makes her so happy she won't want to anyway."

Ginny rose slowly from the chair. If anyone had stopped her to look in her eyes they would have seen a soft red glow. He had basically switched places with the girl. Whereas he normally drifted to the back of her mind and needed to force himself to the forefront to take control, he was now fully in control. Ginny's dream continued but it was like a conversation in another room. He could feel… everything. He raised Ginny's wand and cast a silent disillusionment spell over himself and had to force himself to not run the entire way to the Chamber's entrance. No, as incredible as he felt, he knew he needed to conserve his energy. It must be done.

As he neared the washroom he could no longer contain himself. He broke into a run only to skid right past the bathroom door when he hit the puddle of water in front of it. He cursed to himself as he stood back up. Wordlessly he waved his wand and dried his robes. He looked down each end of the hall then entered the washroom. He looked into the mirror above the sink before remembering he was invisible. He chuckled to himself and opened the chamber. "Come my pet... time to make an appearance!" He called down the chute. He waited till he could hear the great snake stir below him, "Come, watch over me as I announce our return. There is water on the floor, your eyes will not kill them, however a nice statue would be a good start."

He heard the snake begin to make his way upwards and left the entrance to retrieve his jar of blood. He looked at it skeptically, it wasn't nearly enough... pointing his wand at the jar it grew several times its original size and he was pleased to see it now shimmered in the light. Calling the snake into the hall he lifted the jar and began splashing the blood all over the wall. Waving his wand once again he stood back and watched with satisfaction as the words appeared, "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE."

He stood there for a few minutes admiring his handiwork when he noticed the snake had begun to get restless. It sensed the students not far away, it was hungry. He reached out a hand to soothe his pet. "Soon, my old friend, soon... but it must the right one..." he said soothingly; "Tonight we need a warning, nothing more." It was quiet, too quiet. He was about to go find a student for the great snake to petrify when his attention was drawn to the hissing of a cat. He turned in time to watch as the cat was petrified.

"It'll do," he thought sighing as he waved his wand and caused the cat tied itself to a torch bracket. "My friend, return to your home. We will see each other again soon."

The snake hissed angrily and started muttering to itself; "Rip... tear... kill... so hungry... for so long... kill time to kill... I smell them, I SMELL THE BLOOD..." Tom closed the entrance to the chamber and went to exit the washroom. He listened for moment; "There... footsteps... excellent..."

As much as he wanted to witness the events take place it was better not to be found and conserve his energy.

"Look!" he heard a boy's voice behind him.

"Let the fun begin," he thought. He waited in an alcove not too far from the Gryffindor common room and removed his charm. When he heard students approaching he blended in with them and then went up to Ginny's dorm.

"That was amazing..." he thought as he changed and got into bed. Closing his eyes he looked in on Ginny's dream and let her have control back.

…

Hermione stared in horror at the scene in front her. That was blood on the wall, she was sure of it. She pondered the words on the wall and shockingly realized she'd never heard of a "Chamber of Secrets."

They stepped closer to the wall to figure out what was hanging from the torch then jumped back in fright when they realised it was Filch's cat, Mrs Norris.

Hermione grabbed the boys' arms and started to lead them away when they heard the rumble of hundreds of feet coming towards them. The feast must have just ended, and as they turned around looking for a place to hide, a shout echoed down the hall; "Enemies of the heir beware! You'll be next Mudbloods." It was Malfoy, a look of glee on his face.

"Evil, foul, little git," Hermione thought.


	9. Hermione's Schemes

"Crap," Hermione thought as the shuffling wheezing caretaker stumbled upon them. "Stupid Malfoy and his big mouth," she thought darkly. Filch began to splutter and accuse Harry of killing his cat.

"Argus!" The commanding voice of Professor Dumbledore echoed down the corridor.

"Thank God," thought Hermione, "Now maybe we'll get some answers and a little sanity."

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch, "You too Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger."

"My office is closest headmaster..." Lockhart offered.

"Great", she thought, "Lockhart… well maybe he'll be good for a little comic relief. The damage is already done how much worse could he make it?"

The small group gathered and were joined by Professors McGonagall and Snape and then together they made their way to Lockhart's office. Hermione pretty much ignored everything Lockhart boasted as she watched Dumbledore lean over the cat on the desk. She spared a glance for the rest of teachers assembled. Lockhart was still boasting that he could have saved the cat; McGonagall was staring at the cat as intently as Dumbledore; while Snape for some reason was standing off the in shadows looking smug. Filch, meanwhile, was sitting in a chair unable to look at his cat.

After Dumbledore had muttered a few incantations he stood to his full height and announced; " She is not dead, Argus. She has been petrified." Hermione looked at the cat more closely until Filch began spouting accusations again. For some reason it was Snape who proved most useful although Hermione had the suspicion that he wasn't _actually_ trying to help.

"Perhaps Potter was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Snape offered, although it sounded like he didn't believe a word of it and so didn't stop there; "though it is curious... what were they doing in the corridor in the first place? Why were they not down at the feast with the rest of the students?" Harry explained about the Deathday party, conveniently leaving out the voice he thought he heard, and then Ron had said they weren't hungry and so were heading up to the tower. Unfortunately his stomach had chosen that moment to complain. They went back and forth, Snape and Harry for a moment, until Snape went too far and suggested Harry not be allowed to play Quidditch until Harry had come clean.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," Dumbledore interjected calmly.

Snape looked as though he had been denied a rare treat while Filch continued to complain loudly. Hermione lost track of the conversation again thinking that it was a good thing they already had Mandrakes growing when Lockhart offered to make the restorative draught. Snape didn't like that. In fact he looked as if he wanted to curse Lockhart into oblivion. "Well, to be fair," she thought, "he has every right to be annoyed." Not only was Lockhart a useless teacher, but he was teaching the very subject that Snape longed to teach and then to turn around and say he could make a better potion than Snape, the very subject he was forced to teach instead? She was surprised his wand wasn't already in his hand.

"You may go," Dumbledore dismissed them, the three gratefully leaving the tense silence behind. They walked quickly until they found an empty classroom to discuss what they had just heard. Hermione listened to Ron talk about the voices Harry had heard and tell him what a "squib" was. Hermione wondered vaguely why Filch would chose to live in a place that was a constant reminder of the things he could not do. A clock chimed somewhere and they realised it was midnight and hurried back to the tower. After all that had happened they didn't want to be asked why they hadn't just returned to the Common Room immediately.

Hermione left the boys and went up to her dorm. She paused by Ginny's door and wondered vaguely if Ginny had enjoyed the Halloween feast and hoped she'd missed the scene in the corridor. She placed her hand on the door and quietly opened it to check on her. It was easy to find Ginny amongst the sleeping girls. She quietly crossed to Ginny's bed and looked down at the sleeping girl. She looked so tired and yet, as she watched, the young girl smiled and turned away from her. She reached down and gently pulled the covers over Ginny's shoulders. She watched her sleep for a few more minutes thinking over the events of the night. "Ginny's first year is turning out pretty nuts," she sighed and turned to leave the room quietly closing the door behind her.

Ginny woke up briefly as the door closed. She lay back onto her back and thought she caught a whiff of vanilla. Thinking of Hermione she fell back to sleep.

"Well that was interesting," thought Tom distractedly.

Ginny woke up the next morning feeling as though she hadn't slept at all. She felt a little lonely; she couldn't feel Tom's presence at all. She remembered that she was supposed to meet up with Luna after breakfast and, still sleepy, pulled herself from her bed. She glanced out the window to see that it was sunny outside and thought maybe she could get Luna to join her for a walk.

When she entered the Common Room she was surprised to see so many people sitting in small groups talking amongst themselves. She took a look around quickly then headed to breakfast. She found Luna at the Ravenclaw table and sat down beside her.

"Hey Luna," she said tiredly as she stifled a yawn; "feel like going for a walk after breakfast?"

Luna looked at her friend and thought that she could do with a little sun and it had been awhile since they had a chance to spend some time together.

"Sure Gin..." she replied and then noticing that Ginny had yet to touch any food, she asked; "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really," thought Ginny, but grabbed a couple of pieces of toast from a nearby plate while Luna poured her a cup of pumpkin juice. "Thanks Loony", using her friend's new nickname. Well not really a nickname, more like an inside joke. They ate in silence then headed outside.

"Where do you want to go?" Luna asked.

"Lake?" She suggested, Luna nodded and the two headed down the slope towards the lake.

"You okay Ginny? You look really tired... were you able to sleep after what happened last night?"

"I guess... wait... what happened last night?" She asked in confusion.

"You don't know? How could you miss it?" And then she thought for a moment, she didn't actually remembering seeing Ginny at the Halloween Feast. She furrowed her brow and looked at her friend, "Come to think of it I don't recall seeing you there, or come to think of it, Hermione either," she looked slyly at her friend but then remembered seeing Hermione at the scene of last's night disturbance but Ginny was nowhere around; "Where were you?"

Ginny was worried. The last thing she remembered was daydreaming while she sat in Hermione's favorite spot. The next thing she could remember was waking up that morning. "I was feeling really tired around five yesterday and headed up for a nap, guess I slept right through till this morning." She couldn't actually remember going up to bed but, since she had woken up there, she must of. "Why? What did I miss?"

Luna sensed that her friend was hiding something but she couldn't figure out what. "Probably be easier to show you," she offered. She led Ginny back to the castle and up to the first floor. She was shocked to see that Luna was leading her towards the first floor bathroom where Tom's secret entrance lay and became worried. When they stopped in front of the door Ginny looked at the wall where Tom's message still shone brightly.

"But what does it mean Luna? Has your Dad ever mentioned anything about it?" Luna's dad believed so many odd things she thought maybe her friend had heard of it but she only shook her head.

"The worst part was when Malfoy shouted that "Mudbloods" were next and we all found Harry, Ron and Hermione standing underneath it," Luna supplied.

"Oh no," Ginny thought and hoped Hermione was okay.

"Then Filch showed up and started blaming Harry for killing his cat..."

"Wait," Ginny interrupted, "What about Mrs. Norris?"

"She was hanging from the torch bracket. She did look dead but for some reason when Dumbledore showed up he didn't seem too concerned. He took the three of them and the cat to Lockhart's office. I don't know what happened after that, we all went to bed." They heard the shuffling steps of Mr. Filch, "C'mon, let's go back outside."

They wandered back to their spot by the lake. She could see that Ginny was still lost in thought, and figuring Ginny was thinking about Hermione again, she left her to it.

But Ginny wasn't thinking about Hermione. She was upset that they'd been blamed for something she knew, though she wasn't sure why she knew, that they had nothing to do with. She stared out over the lake. "So how's the cat? Is it dead?"

"No, I don't think so. I thought I overheard someone say she was 'petrified' but no one knows how. And now everyone is saying that Harry Potter is the heir of Slytherin. Like the boy who vanquished You-Know-Who could ever be the heir. It's just stupid really."

"Wait... that "boy" has something to do with me being in this state?" Tom thought. He suddenly felt himself very curious about this boy. He recognised the name and thought the boy was a friend of Hermione. He needed more information and started to dig through Ginny's memories. First he found the stories that Ron had told her this past summer. His curiosity slowly turned to anger. "The boy had thwarted my return just this past year. But how?" He digged deeper for answers. What he found angered him even further. The boy was indeed responsible for his current state. How could a mere baby have defeated him? The greatest and smartest wizard of the day? He had done more things before the age of sixteen than that idiot pretty boy Lockhart had likely done in his whole life. He'd witnessed enough of the teacher's class and already knew the man was fraud. Almost everything he talked about either didn't exist or was impossible.

Ginny's head had started to ache and she was feeling tired again. She looked to her friend; "Wanna walk me to the hospital wing, Loony? I've got such a nasty headache."

Luna stood and reached her hand to Ginny to help her stand. Ginny's grabbed on to Luna with her free hand as well as her headache doubled when she stood and swayed slightly on the spot.

"Gin?" She turned to look at Luna and there were little black dots blurring her vision. "You Okay?" Luna thought she saw a glimmer of red; "trick of the light," she thought. Ginny nodded and let her friend lead her back to the castle.

Tom's plan was starting to take shape. He had wondered who he should let his pet target next. "They think " _he"_ is the heir? Fine... let's help that along shall we?" He pulled back a little so he could observe without using up too much energy. "Let's see how the boy handles a little hardship..."

A few days later Hermione and the boys were in the library finishing up some homework. Well the boys were anyway. Hermione on the other hand was trying to find a book called, "Moste Potente Potions. " Snape had mentioned a certain potion that might help with the plan she was forming.

She had just about given up when she noticed Ginny sitting by a window looking out at the view. She approached the young girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ginny?" Hermione was shocked to see tears had been running down her face when she turned to her. "What is it Ginny?" She asked in concern as she sat on the arm of the girl's chair. She felt so helpless as she put her arm around the girls' shoulders and pulled her close.

Ginny couldn't tell her what was wrong. Why she had been crying. "I feel bad about Mrs. Norris," she lied.

"She's going to be fine Ginny. It just like she's asleep," she reassured her and pulled her tighter still. Ginny seemed to tense a moment and then laid her head on Hermione's lap, sighing as she did so.

"Is this really happening?" She thought, as she felt Hermione start to gently stroke her hair; "Merlin this feels so nice." Despite the overwhelming sadness that still lingered, she had to admit to herself this was the happiest and safest she had felt in a long time. She was starting to have trouble separating her dreams from reality. She'd find herself lost in a daydream then come out of it to find herself in another spot. It had happened a few times now and it was starting to scare her a little.

The daydreams and dreams though, they were intense, and she had a hard time understanding what they meant. She kept dreaming about Hermione. Actually in that very moment, as she sat there with Hermione stroking her hair she was sure she'd had a similar dream. In the dream however, she had pulled Hermione in for a long kiss. "No," she thought, "I'm not ruining this moment." She feared that if she gave into that particular impulse it would chase her away and she didn't want that. No, it was better to enjoy the moment for what it was and relaxed for the first time in what seemed like weeks. And, if she ruined this moment, she'd lose this small source of comfort.

"Are you scared Hermione? What Malfoy said?" She asked and started to shake a little at the thought of something happening to her.

The truth was, Hermione didn't know what to think. She felt Ginny shudder a little so started to rub her back to warm her up. But she didn't think that kind of information would help Ginny so she tried to reassure her instead. "Malfoy's a git. Really Ginny, think about it... the message never said _who_ the enemies were. For all we know the guy was afraid of spiders and someone's planning on going around killing them all," she smiled a little as Ginny giggled softly.

"Merlin," Ginny thought, "that feels so good," as the warmth from the hand Hermione was rubbing her back slowly started to seep into her muscles. She looked up at Hermione, "What about the cat though? And don't tell me the "enemies" were cats, Hermione. She was petrified. Who or what could do that?"

Hermione laughed a little and then squeezed the girl's shoulder; "That," she said, "Is a very good question." It was frustrating her to no end. She hated a puzzle she couldn't solve. "I'm sorry Ginny, I need to go check on the boys, make sure they've finished their essays for History of Magic." She thought of the plan she was forming. "It's worth a try," she thought. As the two girls stood up, Hermione looked down at Ginny to find her staring at her shoes. She gently lifted Ginny's chin so she could look into the girl's eyes. "It's going to be okay. Whatever is happening, we'll figure it out," she then wiped the solitary tear that had leaked from her eye.

"Promise?" She asked in a small voice. The one time Hermione had lifted her chin like that in a dream that had shared a first kiss. She had felt the tear leak from her eye when Hermione spoke instead, realising with sadness, that that wasn't going to happen.

"Promise..." she replied and hugged her. Ginny was shocked to feel a tug over her heart similar to the one she'd felt in a dream.

Hermione thought she heard Ron groan somewhere from behind her; "I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short... and Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny..." It's true essays were not a problem for her. The problem was writing down all the information that was rattling around her brain. "Sometimes," she thought, "I miss my computer." It wasn't the first time that thought had crossed her mind. When she read "Hogwarts: A History," the first time she was disappointed to find that, even if she found a way to smuggle her computer to the school, it wouldn't work. It also explained how she had managed to fry the three her parents had gotten her within a month each time. No one could explain it at the time nor could they be fixed. After reading her history book she realized it was her own innate magic that had fried her computer. But still, before they had died, Hermione had found that she could keep up with her thoughts much faster when she was typing than she could with a quill and parchment. And oh, how she missed simple editing. That she had managed to compensate for with a spell she found midway through her first year. Whenever she would proof read what she had written and noticed she missed something, she could write down the information on another piece of parchment and then move the text to the proper place with her wand. Unfortunately every time she added more information to her essay all the text would shrink so that it still fit in the same space. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, before she had discovered this method her essays were always more than five feet long with all the information she knew. Her essays were still longer than absolutely required but it didn't look quite so bad from everyone else's perspective. But still, she couldn't write as fast with a quill as she could type and her hand was always so sore when she was done.

"Where is she?" She heard Harry's voice next. While she was lost in thought she had still been hugging Ginny, who really wasn't minding. She was starting to get used to the tugging over her heart.

"I really need to go Ginny. Talk to you later?" As Hermione let Ginny go she felt this odd tugging sensation in her chest and had to fight the urge to pull Ginny right back. Ginny nodded and as she walked away Hermione rubbed her chest lightly. "What was that all about?" She thought and then put it to the back of her mind. She had bigger things to worry about, and although she already knew her ultimate goal, it was time to bring the boys up to speed. She knew she had to do it in such a way that they would think it was their idea and therefore more eager to help.

Hermione's chest rubbing hadn't gone unnoticed by Ginny. Did she feel that tug too? "Yes, I think she did," Tom agreed silently; "Interesting."

"I was wondering where you were Tom," she thought to him as she hugged her diary a little.

"I was just lost in thought and you seemed happy so I knew you didn't me. I felt your sadness though, when she let you go and I came back..." The truth was he couldn't bear her happiness lately. Whenever she was around Hermione he felt as though he was in pain and was pushed very far away. He didn't understand it. Before Ginny's happy dreams had made it easier for him to control her but now. "Is she actually falling in love with the girl?" Why hadn't he seen this coming? Was it because Hermione had shown her actual affection and warmth? And what was with the tugging in the chest? He would have thought on it longer but he had his own problems. He needed a victim that would be associated with Potter without upsetting Ginny too much.

Harry looked up from the essay he was measuring as Hermione walked out from the bookshelves. She was so frustrated. She already knew everything her history book said about the Chamber and she couldn't find the potion book she needed for her plan. "It must be in the restricted section, but I need a teacher's... autograph..." She smiled; her plan was definitely coming together. Now to get the boys curious enough that they would help. She knew she would have to spoon feed them the plan and thought she knew the best way to get their curiosity piqued.

The three of them bickered a moment and then headed off to their History of Magic class. For the first time Hermione was excited about entering that classroom though she wasn't sure their ghost teacher would notice a student with their arm in the air let alone answer a question.

"Miss… er?"

"Granger, Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" For the first time maybe ever, whether he was alive or dead, the entire class was paying attention. After a little more prodding the ghost went into a long description of the legend. Hermione gleaned very little new information. What she needed to know was where it was and what was supposedly hiding inside it. The lecture had however, succeeded in getting the boys up to speed with everything she already knew about the Chamber.

Hermione was surprised when a fellow Gryffindor, Dean Thomas, made a good point; "But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't..." But Binns had finally had enough and was again lecturing to them about the International Warlock Convention of 1289. Most of the class, Ron and Harry included, had fallen back into the stupor that was the norm for the class. Hermione however was thinking on Dean's last comment. What was it that Slytherin could do, aside from irrationally hate all Muggleborns, which few others could not? It wasn't a matter of dark magic. Anyone could perform dark magic but most chose not to as it could be addictive. No, it had to be some innate ability he had, and she resolved to do more research on Salazar Slytherin himself.

As they left at the end of class they found the halls crowded and started to head back to the tower to drop off their bags for dinner. The boys were lost in discussion so Hermione subtly lead them to the scene where all this had started. She wanted to take a better look, without anyone watching, for clues. Just before they turned a corner that would lead them to the scene Hermione voiced a thought that had been bothering her; "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be, well, human."

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Harry, dropping his bag and getting to his knees to search the floor. "Scorch marks! Here… and here…" Hermione however had been distracted by something at the window though and almost laughed out loud when she realised that there was a string of small spiders trying to escape through a crack in the window. "Hmm... maybe the heir is after the spiders..." She giggled when she took a look at Ron and saw the he was trying to get as far away as possible from the spiders.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" She asked.

"No," replied Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?" Harry had just noticed Ron's reaction to the spiders, "What's up?" He asked Ron

"I... don't... like... spiders" Ron stuttered then went on to explain why. Hermione was trying really hard not to laugh when Harry tried to change the subject in an effort to help Ron out and mentioned the water that had been on the floor. It lead them to the bathroom across the hall and Ron was about to open the door when he realized it was a girl's washroom.

"Oh come on Ron. No ever uses this one. It's Moaning Myrtle's. Everyone tries to avoid it. Maybe..." she trailed off for a moment, "maybe she saw what happened." They entered the bathroom and looked around. It wasn't surprising that no ever used it. It barely looked like it had been cleaned in decades. All that, and more often than not, the sobbing ghost of Moaning Myrtle.

They approached the stall where Hermione knew the ghost would be hiding and was trying to gently get some information from her. "I wasn't paying attention," she said dramatically, "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm… I'm…" her voice rising before she trailed off.

"Already dead?" Ron added helpfully.

"Oh Ron, you idiot..."She thought as Myrtle gave a huge sob and dove head first into the toilet splashing water all over them. She thought of telling him how much of an idiot he was but restrained herself. She would need the boys to go along with her plan. She knew it would be risky. She knew it would be difficult, (which really, was the reason she wanted to do it so badly). And she knew if they pulled it off they might just get some answers.

As they exited the bathroom they unfortunately ran into Percy who reamed Ron out for being in a girl's washroom. Ron's explanation didn't help though and they left Percy behind after he had declared with all the authority he could muster; "Five points from Gryffindor! And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more _detective work_ or I'll write to Mum!"

She returned to her previous line of thought with a bit a doubt. "What if we get caught? Then I won't be able to do anything more to help." She thought of her encounter with Ginny in the library, smiled and blushed a little. There had been a weird moment when she had looked in Ginny's eyes and felt the overwhelming urge to do... something, anything... to make the girl feel better. She had only spoken to break the awkward silence. And what was that tugging feeling she had? She never had never experienced anything like it. She hugged herself, her resolve strengthening. "I don't care," she thought of Ginny, "I need to _do_ something."

After dinner the three settled themselves as far away from Percy in the Common Room as they could. Hermione opened her Potions book and flipped through it idly. She had her plan and now it was time to get the boys on board. She had a feeling the potion she wanted to attempt might need to stew and she thought as she glanced at Ginny heading up to the dorms: "Time really is of the essence."

"Who can it be, though?" She said in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard but loud enough to get their attention. She needed to lead them in the direction of her plan; "Who'd _want_ all the Squibs and Muggleborns out of Hogwarts?" She said, looking to Ron to take the bait.

"Let's think," he said, pulling a puzzled expression; "Who do we know who thinks all Muggleborns are scum?"

"Good boy Ron," she thought. Although he hadn't outright said it, he gave her the opening she needed.

"If you're talking about Malfoy…" she started. Though she highly doubted the blond haired boy had anything to do with it having grown up in a house with a known "former" Death Eater, he might have heard something about what the beast was and where it might be hiding. She knew it was a long shot but they needed information and it was the only shot they had at the moment. She let the boys debate the possibility that Malfoy was somehow responsible until she had a chance to fill them in on her plan a little more.

"But how do we prove it?" Harry muttered darkly.

"Thanks for the opening Harry," she thought and then filled them in on her plan. When they got to point about the book they needed and how hard it would be to get a teacher's signature to get it, she almost laughed out loud; "That," she thought, "is the easy part."

"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that. They'd have to be really thick..." Ron muttered.

"Well," she thought, "not thick necessarily." She had no doubt that Lockhart was an idiot but that wasn't what made it so easy. No, it was his arrogancy that would work in her favour. She knew the daft fool wouldn't be able to resist the giggling shy girl Hermione planned on playing when she asked for his 'autograph.'


	10. Motives

Ginny had risen before her dorm mates and was seated at the window looking out over the grounds, lost in thought.

"You seem troubled, Ginny," Tom piped up.

"Leave me alone," Ginny replied irate. She knew Tom knew exactly what was wrong and it bothered her, that he knew everything about her. Every thought. Every feeling. But more than that, she knew he could be really helpful if he wanted to be. But she wasn't ready to talk about yet. Talking about it would make it real.

She had come to realise that it was more than just remnants of a dream. When Hermione had held her chin in her hand and she had looked into those beautiful brown eyes: she really had wanted to kiss her. And that was the true source of her confusion.

Tom did as he was told and left the girl to her thoughts. "I could help her out," he thought. But he wasn't really sure if he should. It wasn't that it was a girl. Even when he'd been sixteen it hadn't been unusual to walk in on a couple of boys or two girls snogging in a deserted corridor in the castle. One thing about the wizarding world is that it didn't matter the sex of the person you loved. It mattered more if they were pureblood or not.

Tom had never understood love. How could he? He had grown up in an orphanage. He had discovered as young boy to keep others away. They all knew how he came to be there. Abandoned by his mother who had died in childbirth. When he first found out he was a wizard he thought that his mother must have been A Muggle and that was why she had died. He figured it was on his father's side and only had his name, Tom Riddle, to go on.

The orphanage had told them all they knew: He had gotten his name from his father and his middle name, Marvolo, for his Mother's father. As soon as he got to Hogwarts he had spent every spare moment searching for the name Tom Riddle. When he found nothing he finally had to admit that the woman who had died in childbirth must have been a witch. He could never understand how a witch would not even save herself for her child. Had she not loved him enough to try? He had never been loved and chose to never love anyone in return.

Before he had learned his heritage he had kept others at bay. He used his magic on the other children to get them to leave him alone. He felt depending on anyone was just weakness. He started to chuckle when he realised the irony of his current situation. Not only was he forced to depend on someone else for his very survival but that he, who had never felt love for another soul nor felt loved by another, was forced to witness and feel everything of a love sick little girl. Add the fact that the object of affection was another girl? Well maybe he could still use it to his advantage.

"Ginny?" he said tentatively.

"Hmmm?"

"There's nothing wrong with how you feel about her, you know."

Ginny was surprised; maybe Tom was going to be helpful after all.

"I know that Tom... I'm just scared if I tell her and she," choking on the thought, "hates me for it, then I've lost my friend too and I don't want that."

Should he tell her that, although he had never felt love itself, he could already see the signs that Hermione might share some of her feelings? "No," he thought that would be counterproductive and only lead to more confusion and frankly, distraction and even pain for him. Every time he felt the surge of emotion it was as though he was being tortured and made it hard for him to concentrate. Better to not let it progress any further, he thought. But what to say? "Ginny, I think she'd still be your friend..."

She wasn't sure she believed him but it made her feel better anyway; "Thanks for saying that Tom."

…

The next day Hermione entered Lockhart's classroom excited for the first time this year. She tried not to giggle as Lockhart made Harry participate in a re-enactment of one of _his_ great deeds. "Idiot," she thought, "The only the thing that can cure a Werewolf is death." Not that she thought all Werewolves should be killed but that there was no cure and definitely no spell called a "Homorphus Charm".

"No," thought Hermione, "the Werewolf," and she seriously doubted Lockhart had ever seen anything more than a picture of one; "probably looked at what an idiot he was and decided he would be a very annoying Werewolf if he bit him. And he wouldn't want to eat him with all the product in his hair." She was stirred from her musings as she realised the class had come to end. "Time to start the act," she thought.

"Wait till everyone's gone," she whispered to the boys: she didn't want anyone thinking she actually was the "giggling awestruck girl" she was about to pretend to be; "All right..."

"Er... Professor Lockhart?" She stammered, playing it for all it was worth; "I wanted to... get this book out of the library. Just for background reading," she made sure her hand was shaking slightly; "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it," she sensed his hesitation so decided to appeal to his ego; "I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in _Gadding with Ghouls_ about slow acting venoms..." That did it. He went on to talk fondly of his own book while signing for the one Hermione needed without even looking at the title of the book she needed. "Oh, yes, so clever how you trapped that last one with a tea strainer..." she said, again appealing to his ego.

Lockhart then went on to boast that he had been amazing Quidditch player in his youth and offered to give Harry tips should he ever need them. "Yeah, like that's going to happen..." They left his classroom and headed straight to the library. When they got there Hermione handed the librarian, Madam Pince, the note. She was afraid to let it go. If this note got back to say, Dumbledore or McGonagall, they would have to explain. However, if they were able to get the book and keep the evidence that would be ideal. "I was wondering if I could keep it," saying it in such a way that it sounded as though her only motive was keeping Lockhart's signature.

Ron wrenched it from her hand and handed it to the librarian telling Hermione she could easily get another one. When finally Madam Pince had deemed the note authentic she retrieved the book and handed it to Hermione. "First hurdle passed... now let's see how hard this potion is," she thought as she stuffed the mouldy-looking book in her bag as they left the library.

Getting to Myrtle's bathroom was hard, for all Hermione wanted to do was get there and read it. Ron hadn't liked the idea of using the bathroom until Hermione pointed out it was their best chance to not be disturbed. As dedicated as she was to this plan if she got caught it would be all for nothing.

They barricaded themselves in a stall as far away from Myrtle's sobbing as possible. Hermione flicked through the book quickly ignoring all the evil potions it contained. It would bother her, but she knew the one she was looking wasn't actually dangerous.

Finally they found it. "This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," she said getting even more excited at the challenge ahead of her. "Most of the ingredients we can get from the student store cupboard but we're going to have steal the Bicorn powdered horn and the Boomslang skin from Snape's private stores. And a bit of whomever we're going to change into of course." Ron balked at the last bit. She was pleased to see neither of them seemed too bothered with the idea of stealing from Snape.

"Breaking into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea..." Harry stammered.

It was their only shot, how could he not see that? She looked back at potion. "It's going to take about month," she told them and explained why. No it wasn't ideal but if she rushed it, the consequences would be dire. No better a month than... no, she didn't want to think about all the ways it could go wrong.

As Hermione checked the coast was clear for the boys to leave she heard Ron mutter to Harry, "It'll be a less hassle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow."

"Sure Ron," she thought, "then there goes the very kid I want to question." She motioned the boys out of the room. "It would be so much easier if I could just to do this alone, she thought. But she needed their help with Snape first. She didn't mind having Harry around, he at least was good with wand, but Ron... Ron's only use was the crush he seemed to be getting on her. It made it very easy to get them both to do what she wanted. Ron would agree with her than Harry usually followed suit. And she had to admit he did help with that stupid chess set last year. "You know," she thought; "he keeps bragging he's so good at chess and yet he ended up having to sacrifice himself..."

…

Ginny woke up the next morning looking forward to the Quidditch game between Slytherin and Gryffindor. She had a feeling watching an actual game would be somewhat bittersweet for her. Watching when she'd rather be playing. At least it was fun watching Harry fly. Even though she had been flying for years she couldn't do some of the things he did with a broom.

"Mind you," she thought ruefully, "doesn't hurt to have a decent broom." She sat up in bed and looked out the window: it looked like it was going to be a wet and cold day, she sighed.

Before getting up to pull out as many warm jumpers as she could fit on, Tom offered a suggestion: "How about I teach you a warming spell and a spell to keep you dry." He couldn't risk Ginny getting ill, he needed her body healthy. He had no interest in Quidditch of course, but she did. He could already feel her excitement. He all but drooled at the thought of all the adrenaline that would be soon flowing through her. He would need all that and more for what he had planned tonight.

"Okay, what are the spells?" She asked, curious.

"No need to do them now... we'll do them just before we go outside, okay?"

"Thanks Tom."

She decided to dress somewhat warmly despite Tom's promise. When she entered the Great Hall a little while later she noted that the Gryffindor team was already gone and figured the game would probably be starting soon. She looked for Ron and Hermione, thinking maybe she could join them for the game, but they were gone as well. Sighing, she spotted Luna and wandered over to her.

"Feel like going to watch the game with me?" She asked her friend as she poured herself a cup of tea.

"You're joking right?" Ginny shook her head; "I know how much you love the game Gin, but have you seen it out there? We'll be soaked then sick in no time."

"No we won't... a... a friend taught me a couple of spells to keep us warm and dry."

"Really?" thinking the _friend_ was Hermione, Luna readily agreed. "Well we better head down then if we want decent seats." The walked out towards the rain and Ginny started to wonder if she'd be able to perform Tom's spells. When they got outside Luna turned to her friend expectantly, "Well go on then, make me waterproof and warm."

"Just point your wand at her, I'll do the rest," Tom said. She did as she was told and was happy when she saw Luna's hair ruffle a bit as the spells hit her. "Now you." And she performed the spells a second time. Happy, warm and dry the two walked down to the Quidditch pitch.

They climbed the stands looking for a place to sit when Ginny noticed an empty spot a few rows behind Hermione and start leading Luna towards it. They both noticed a few stares from the Gryffindors around them. Seemed they couldn't understand why a Ravenclaw would want to sit with them. Luna sensing this piped up in a misty sounding voice; "Oh... these seats are for anyone right?" A few of them looked away uncomfortably, some nodded, and Ginny noticed Hermione look back, saw Ginny, and smiled.

Luna turned to look where Ginny was now giving a small wave before sitting down. "Figures," she thought ruefully and sat beside her friend. She was pleased to see Hermione smile and wave back to Ginny. She chanced a look at her friend's face and was pleased to see it showed more colour than it had in a while.

"Nice one," Ginny said, finally turning her gaze from Hermione's back.

"What?"

"How you shut up all the Gryffindors with one innocent sounding sentence."

"Thank you for noticing. I'm finding it's a lot of fun to call people on their crap and do it in such a way that they'd look bad if they tried to say something. It's rather entertaining to watch them squirm," she told her.

"What makes you think they won't?"

"Too scared most of them... some of them worry more that they'll get in trouble for picking on the "crazy Loony Lovegood girl."

"You truly are amazing you know..." she trailed off as the game began. Ginny tried to explain the rules to Luna but quickly got distracted by the aerial acrobatics Harry was performing. She squinted through the rain and gasped when she realised why.

"He's got a rogue Bludger on his tail," she whispered to Luna.

"A rogue what?"

"That ball that looks like it's trying to kill Harry. Normally they go after anyone they're aimed at not follow one player." How was he going to catch the snitch if he was so busy dodging the Bludger? The twins noticed and tried to help him. Didn't they realise they were leaving everyone else undefended, the Slytherins were scoring goal after goal. She sighed with relief when the Gryffindor captain Wood called a timeout. She looked down to where Hermione sat with Ron whispering and then back at the pitch as the players took to the sky again.

Her attention was drawn to Malfoy when he shouted; "Training for the ballet, Potter?"

The Snitch was about a foot over the blond boy's head. Harry took a moment to glare at Malfoy and seemed to notice the Snitch just before that one second of distraction finally gave the Bludger the chance to hit its mark.

"That looked like it hurt," Luna commented. Harry didn't let that stop him though as he sped right at Malfoy. Next thing she knew Harry had hit the ground, and lying in the mud, he raised his good arm in triumph, the struggling Snitch between his fingers… and then he fainted. She thought she heard a clicking of a camera and saw Colin Creevey running towards Harry.

"C'mon Luna," she said as she noticed Hermione heading onto the pitch to check on Harry. "Let's head in, I think my charms are wearing off."

They weren't. Well not on their own anyway, Tom had removed them. He had an idea and he needed Ginny inside the castle to rest before he put it into action.

…

Hermione had watched in horror as the Bludger had relentlessly chased Harry around the pitch. She and Ron ran down to check on Harry. "What," she thought, "could do that to a Bludger?" As they reached Harry she noticed Lockhart walking over. "Oh no..." Harry tried to fend him but Lockhart tried to "help" anyway. Hermione looked on in horror as all the bones seem to disappear from his arm. What had he done?

"Ah..." Lockhart stammered as he tried to find an excuse; "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. So Harry, just toddle up to the Hospital Wing... ah, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him?" they nodded; "and Madam Pomfrey will be able to... er... tidy you up a bit."

"More like you don't want to face the Healer yourself, you coward," she thought. Once they'd gotten Harry to the Hospital Wing she realised that maybe Lockhart wasn't a complete and utter idiot.

Madam Pomfrey was livid. Hermione was somewhat reassured when the Healer said she would be able to fix it, but it would painful. Hermione and the Healer ducked around the curtain while Harry changed.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Ron asked from behind the curtain where he was helping Harry get changed.

She couldn't. He was an idiot but she was having fun playing the "love-struck" schoolgirl and watching their reactions.

"Anyone can make a mistake," she said, and then pointed out; "And it doesn't hurt any more, does it, Harry?"

"No," he replied, "but it doesn't do anything else either."

Well Harry did have a point. She and healer rejoined him once he was changed. She watched as he took a potion labeled Skele-gro and grimaced. She listened as they talked about the match.

When Ron brought up Malfoy, Hermione had found an excuse to remind them of her plan; "I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," she said darkly and Harry, bless him, took the bait again.

"We can add that to the questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," then commented that he hoped it tasted better than the potion he had just taken. Ron said he doubted it then the Gryffindor team barged in still filthy and soaking wet.

When they started to get rowdy Madam Pomfrey came to usher them out.

"This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow! Out! OUT!" She yelled at them as they left.

…

Ginny went up to her dorm after dinner thinking she'd call it an early night. Before she get undressed and climb into bed however, Tom took over. He took a moment to go over his plan again. He went back to the Common Room carrying a sprig of grapes he had just conjured and spotted the boy right away. He was sitting in a corner with his camera.

He wandered over; "Hey Colin," he greeted.

"Oh, hi Ginny..."

"I was just about to go take Harry some grapes... I was thinking you could come with me? Maybe get a picture?" he asked the boy. Predictably the boy lit up and followed him out the door. As soon as they had exited the portrait hole Tom turned to the boy and whispered; "Imperio," and then commanded the boy to follow him. They got to the bathroom in no time using the shortcuts he had learned in his youth.

He opened the Chamber while Colin stood a little ways off, looking completely unconcerned. "My pet," he called in his hissing language; "time for a little fun!" He turned to Colin as he waited and handed him the grapes. He commanded the boy to lift his camera to his face and point it towards the Chamber's entrance.

He heard his pet at the entrance; "May I kill him master? His blood... it smells so sweet."

"Not this one, my pet. Just look at him please."

The effect was instantaneous as the boy turned to stone. "It worked!" He thought. He hadn't been sure the camera would block enough of the Basilisk's stare to just petrify him. Turning back to the snake he said; "Thank you my pet, soon, soon you can kill them all." The snake slid back down the chute, hissing angrily. Tom closed the entrance and turned back to Colin.

As he placed a hover charm on the boy he smiled, thinking about how all this would appear. He took the boy and left him somewhere that he would be found, laying the grapes beside him. Taking one last look at him he decided, as a precaution, to destroy the camera's film. He sighed and turned to go back to the Common Room… he was so very tired and needed to sleep.

When Harry had got hurt at the game everything fell in place. He knew where he would be tonight. He knew that he would see them bring the boy in. He had picked Colin after seeing Potter get annoyed with him after the game. He knew that the fools would think Harry had done it or least had something to do with it. He smiled. If nothing else this might distract Harry from trying to figure out what was going on.

He undressed and got into bed. He was getting close... so close. He sighed and let Ginny fall asleep. "Let the chaos begin…" he thought happily.


	11. Schemes

Hermione woke early the next morning; she was intending on getting Ron up, grab some toast from the Great Hall and then retrieve Harry from the Hospital Wing. She wanted to get that potion started soon as she had only gotten more impatient since the Bludger attack. She knew Malfoy wasn't behind it but she had a feeling he might knew who was and she wanted to know what spell they had used. Another reason she wanted to start was, if something went wrong with the potion and had to restart it, they could still have it ready in time for the holidays.

After she got dressed she pointed her wand at the spare cauldron she had found and soon it had shrunk to pocket size. "Now to get the lazy ass out of bed..." she thought but was surprised when she entered the Common Room to see Ron walking towards her.

"You're up early..." she said, teasing him slightly.

"Hagrid's roosters," he replied with a yawn, "but then I got thinking we should get Harry and start the potion."

"Wow... sometimes he has a brain!" She thought but wanted to know what had caused the sudden surge of brilliance. Then her suspicions were confirmed when he continued; "I want to know how Malfoy fixed that Bludger... if Harry hadn't managed to catch the Snitch anyways he'd of cost us the game!" He muttered darkly as they left the portrait hole.

"Ah Quidditch," she thought; "forget that your best friend got hurt and could've been killed, really, but hey, at least we won," she shook her head but her musing were interrupted when she heard the voices of Professors McGonagall and Flitwick as they walked towards them. She pulled Ron behind a tapestry and covered his mouth with her hand to keep him quiet and then was pleasantly surprised when the teachers stopped in front of where they hid.

"Where did you find him Minerva?" Flitwick asked.

"He was at the bottom of the stairs that lead to Gryffindor tower. He had a bunch of grapes beside him and his camera. We think he was going to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing and try to get a picture with him but he ran into trouble along the way."

"And he's petrified?" asked Flitwick.

"Yes and the brave little boy tried to take a picture of his attacker but his film was destroyed."

"Slick if you ask me, destroying the evidence," Flitwick commented.

"Quite," McGonagall sighed; "Dumbledore is worried. He doesn't let on much but he was here the last time it happened and..." they walked away and Hermione missed the end of the sentence.

"Forget breakfast Ron, let's get started. Malfoy must have been angry when the Bludger failed and went after Colin to set Harry up." Ron turned to head back to the tower, "Ron where are you going?" she asked.

"To get a cauldron, ingredients..." he provided while looking at her like she was daft. She calmly patted her pocket and he looked confused, "But..."

"I'll show you when we get there..."

Once they were somewhat comfortably installed in Myrtle's bathroom Hermione took the tiny cauldron from her pocket and handed it to Ron.

"Bit small don't you think?" He asked sarcastically. Ignoring him she whispered the counter spell and laughed when he dropped it on his foot after it returned to its normal size. Sure it was mean, but it was funny. "You meant to do that!"

"Well, no," she admitted, "I was going to suggest you put it down first but..." She pointed her wand at the toilet until bright blue flames appeared. She turned back to Ron to find him nursing his foot and the glared at her as picked up the cauldron and put it on the toilet.

"Nice fire Hermione..." he admitted grudgingly.

She filled the cauldron with water from her wand and waited for it to come to a boil. A little while later they heard the bathroom door open and a voice call out; "It's me!" Hermione had just been checking the water's temperature when she'd been startled and dropped the spoon she was holding into the cauldron.

"Oh Harry, " she said, ushering him into the stall they were using, "you gave us such a fright. Come in, how's your arm?" She asked, pleased it looked normal again. Harry began to tell them about Colin when Hermione told them they already knew, which was why they decided to get started.

As Hermione was tearing bundles of knotgrass and adding them to the cauldron her attention shifted from the potion when Harry started to tell them about the late night visit he'd had just before the teacher's had brought in Colin. She interrupted him; "The Chamber of Secrets _has_ been opened before?" They went on again to speculate that Malfoy was somehow involved.

She was marveling at the lengths this brave little house Elf had gone to protect Harry when Ron commented, "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."

"Kinda sounds like Lockhart," she thought and suppressed a chuckle.

When they had done all they could for the day, Hermione magically sealed the door and cast a silencing charm.

"What did you just do?" Ron asked.

"Well," explaining to him like he was a child, "We don't exactly want it found do we?"

"But that's why we're doing it here..." Harry pointed out.

"Well, yes, but don't you think if someone accidently comes in here they might notice the sound of the boiling potion?" They nodded slightly finally getting it.

"Good job Hermione!"

"I swear," she thought, "why do I have to explain every little thing to him?" She expected these kinds of questions from Harry but you would think someone who had actually grown up around magic would have some clue what it could do.

…

Last night's plan had gone off without a hitch. He had wondered if the camera would make a difference on the Basilisk's gaze… he wouldn't have cared if the boy had died but he was having a little too much fun experimenting with the effects of the Basilisk's gaze. Besides, it benefited his plan to slowly work the school into an uproar. All the pieces were there and Tom was just waiting for the right time, the right victim, to come into play. Until one of them died he knew they would do everything possible to keep the school open: And _that_ was vital. He would eventually target Hermione, he thought ruefully, but he needed to chat with this Potter boy first. If only there was a way he could get his diary into the boy's hands. Not for too long, of course, but just long enough to point him in Hagrid's direction. He felt Ginny stir and sat back as she readied herself for the day.

She had no clue what had happened the night before. No clue she'd been involved. Until her Charms class, that is, when she overheard someone mention she'd been the last person seen with Colin. "Damn," Tom thought, "Should have just Imperiused him from across the room, made myself invisible... sloppy..." he chastised himself; he'd have to be more careful next time. When Professor Flitwick questioned her after class, Tom came up with a lie on the spot. "I wanted to go visit Harry, Professor, but I didn't want to go alone… Colin saw me and asked where I was going with grapes and when I told him he asked if he could come. I gave him the grapes when I stopped in a bathroom and when I came back I found him like that. "

"Minerva never mentioned a bathroom," Flitwick thought. "But why weren't you there when Professor McGonagall found him?" he questioned.

"I was scared... I was afraid whatever did that might come back. I felt bad about leaving him but I figured someone would find him soon enough," Tom explained, trying to sound afraid. It worked and he tried to press the advantage; "Sometimes it really does helps being in the body of an eleven year old," he thought to himself before saying aloud; "Please Sir... don't tell anyone..."

He looked at the girl kindly. Well, it was her fault the boy had been hurt but her heart had been in the right place. "No dear, I don't think it matters now… if you'd seen something maybe... but it changes nothing," he told her kindly. Tom sighed in relief. His mistake had been covered. He would need to be more careful next time. He gently erased the memory Ginny had of finding out about Colin and the conversation with Flitwick. He didn't need her to worry. As they left the classroom he let her back to the forefront and they continued the day with her none the wiser.

It was a few days later when he slipped. They were walking down a corridor when the twins had jumped out from behind a suit of armour to scare Ginny. He had been lost in thought and was angry at the disturbance; before he realised what he had done the boys had been thrown across the hall.

Ginny ran to her brothers to see if they were okay.

"They're still breathing," he sighed with relief, his anger ebbing.

"What did you do to them Tom!" Ginny thought angrily.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I was lost in thought when they scared you and I reacted to your fear before I realised what was going on. I'm sorry ... they're breathing, just knocked out..." he consoled her and was relieved when he felt her anger and fear ebb. She went over and kicked Fred lightly as he started to come around.

As George woke up she yelled at the two of them; "Well that's what you get for scaring me like that you idiots!" Noting they looked terrified of her with satisfaction. She turned and left them sitting comically against the wall looking terrified and slightly confused.

…

It was two weeks before Christmas and it was time to add the ingredients that they had yet to steal from Snape. She had a plan to disrupt his class and she was going to slip away during the confusion. "Pity I won't get to stay around for the fun..." she thought.

On the way to Potions she filled the boys in on the plan and handed Harry a magical firecracker. "Just setting it off won't be enough Harry, we're supposed to be finishing our Swelling Solutions today... if you can get it into one of the cauldron's that looks like it might actually work and the potion goes flying it should distract everyone long enough for me to get there and back."

"Make sure it's a Slytherin one Harry... that'd be too funny." Ron remarked and the three laughed as they entered the classroom. As the class progressed Hermione was starting to feel nervous. She listened intently to Snape as he inspected the potions around them: she needed one far enough away that she wouldn't risk getting hit by the potion but also had the chance of working.

"Perfect," she thought as Snape deemed Goyle's potion adequate. "Aim for Goyle's cauldron Harry... wait until I give you the signal," she whispered to him. Snape walked over and inspected Harry's potion. After he had issued his usual insults at Harry and turned his back on them, she indicated to Harry that it was time.

Harry lit the firecracker and tossed it into Goyle's cauldron. The ensuing chaos was hilarious but Hermione had to pull herself away. She slipped quickly across the hall to where she knew Snape kept ingredients deemed too dangerous for the students. She was happy to find she could open it with a simple "Alohomora".

"Really," she thought, "you'd think he'd be more careful," she then reasoned the ingredients weren't dangerous in and of themselves if you didn't know what to do with them. "At least he's organized," she thought as she quickly found what she was looking for.

She paused at the doorway when she heard Snape yell: "Silence! SILENCE! Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflation Draught. When I find out who did this..."

Hermione peered through a crack and waited till Snape had returned to the front of the class and started administering the antidote before re-entering the class and slipping back to her spot between the boys. Hermione quickly shoved the ingredients in her bag, and as she stood back, hoped Snape thought she was there the whole time when the potion had exploded.

After class they hurried to Myrtle's washroom to add the last two ingredients.

"It'll be ready in a fortnight," she told them. Just two more weeks and maybe they would start getting some answers.

…

About a week later they noticed a crowd gathered in the Entrance Hall and wandered over to see what was going on. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas beckoned them over looking excited.

"They're starting a dueling club! First one tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days..." Seamus told them, clearly excited.

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" asked Ron. The three agreed to go, however Hermione's motivation went beyond the chance to use magic: She was hoping to get a hair off a Slytherin girl for the potion. She had noticed one particularly ugly Slytherin girl who always seemed to have hair on her robes, she just need to get close enough.

At eight o'clock they entered the Great Hall along with most of the school. "I wonder who'll be teaching us… I heard Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was younger, "she said then thought: "Probably because he's so little no one could hit him."

She almost groaned along with the boys when she saw Lockhart enter accompanied by Snape. As Lockhart blustered on and he and Snape lined themselves up to duel she looked around the Hall for the Slytherin girl. She looked back at the teachers when she heard Ron mutter; "Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" She took a quick glance at Snape's face and had a feeling Lockhart was about to pay for taking the job he wanted and then adding insult to injury by implying he could make a better potion.

As Snape cast his spell she looked at Lockhart to see him wave his wand and then be thrown back against the wall. She was confused; it looked as though Lockhart had tried to defend himself in time but the spell hadn't worked. Like when he tried to fix Harry's arm. She'd looked up the spell after and found that it did indeed exist but when he hadn't been able to perform it, he had seemed as shocked as everyone else. And then it dawned on her... she had long suspected that Lockhart hadn't actually done the things he said he'd done but she was starting to think he'd done more than just record other's stories, erased their memories and then claimed them as his own. But why perform spells he had not done before if he knew they could fail and embarrass him? "The crazy bastard," she thought as something new struck her. She realised that, although she had no clue how it was possible, that he had somehow incorporated the stolen memories into his own and maybe now everything was so jumbled that he couldn't actually remember what he could and couldn't do. In other words, he remembered having done the spell successfully but he's never actually performed them so they didn't work.

She had missed Lockhart's attempts to cover for himself and was surprised when Professor Snape paired her up with the hair covered Slytherin she'd been hoping to get close to. She was wondering how she would get close enough to the larger girl when the girl gave her the opening she needed.

Know-it-all little Mudblood... ready for some fun?" She taunted in an effort to sound menacing; Hermione was not looking forward to having to get close to the girl.

They bowed towards each other and then she hit the girl with a disarming spell before she'd even had time to aim. The larger girl growled with fury..."Fine I don't need a wand to take care of you …" and rushed toward Hermione tackling to her to the ground. As they struggled Hermione was able to snatch a few hairs and then felt the girl's weight taken off her back. Rubbing her neck she looked up to find that Harry had removed the girl.

"Thanks, Harry," she said gratefully.

Lockhart had suggested that they demonstrate how to block unfriendly spells when Snape suggested that they use Harry and Malfoy. As they lined up she hoped Harry held his temper and didn't hurt Malfoy too badly… they still needed to question him.

She watched Snape whisper something to Malfoy then turned to look at Harry and noticed he look worried as he asked Lockhart; "Professor could you show me that blocking thing again?"

"Scared, Potter?" Malfoy taunted him when he heard Harry's question.

"You wish," he responded and looked at Lockhart.

"Just do what I did Harry!" Lockhart assured him with a good natured slap of his shoulder.

"What, drop my wand?" he replied sarcastically but Lockhart hadn't noticed.

They counted off and Malfoy yelled; "Serpensortia!"

Hermione watched in fascination as, with an explosion, a long black snake shot out and headed for Harry.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape drawled, clearly enjoying the look of fear on Harry's face; "I'll get rid of it..."

"Allow me!" Shouted Lockhart, desperate to prove himself. He aimed his wand at the snake and a loud band issued from it. The snake, however, didn't vanish but flew about ten feet into the air. When it landed on the floor, hissing loudly, it approached the nearest student, Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself to strike.

Hermione had been watching in horror when she heard a hissing noise approaching and when she found the source she was surprised to find it was coming from Harry. Suddenly the snake slumped to the floor and curled itself until it looked like nothing more than a harmless garden hose. She watched as Harry looked up at Justin, obviously expecting thanks for whatever he had just done when he yelled at him instead; "What do you think you're playing at?" Then turned and stormed out of the hall. Snape approached Harry with an odd look on his and then vanished the snake.

Hermione tugged the back of Harry's robes to get his attention as Ron whispered in his ear. As they hurried back to the Common room Hermione realized that the rumors about Harry were about to get worse. She'd been surprised when she realised that Harry was talking to the snake. An unusual ability most often associated with Salazar Slytherin and now people would be even more convinced he was the heir.

When they had settled themselves in the Common Room Hermione and Ron filled harry in on what they had seen. She was surprised that Harry had no idea he was speaking another language and laughed when he told them about the Boa he had once set on his cousin. He was obviously frustrated but Hermione felt she should warn him what people were bound to think and explained how he shared a rare gift with none other Salazar Slytherin. She had to admit to him as well that there could be an off chance that he was actually related to the infamous wizard.

…

The next morning Tom was awakened by the roosters again: he realised Ginny was still dreaming and he looked on for a moment. She and Hermione were curled up together under a tree. He noted that both girls seem to be older. He woke her and then took over before she was fully awake. He would have performed his usual charms for warmth and invisibility when he realised it was still very early and his being invisible would actually draw more attention to himself as he exited the portrait hole as he didn't have time to wait for someone to leave and follow them out. If anyone asked he'd just tell them he was on the way to the library and then perform his charms as soon as he had a chance. He needed to get rid of the stupid rooster as it was annoying his pet and making it harder and harder to keep it from killing. He was saving that for someone special. The next step in his plan was starting to take shape and he planned on enacting it soon. He needed his pet compliant... and he needed his next target.

As he entered the Common Room he looked around briefly: he found Hermione already up and sitting by the fire, her nose in a book. He considered briefly letting Ginny talk to her but decided he could get the information he needed easier himself and save time too. "Morning Hermione," he said tentatively in Ginny's voice.

"Oh hey," she said, looking up smiling, "How come you're up so early?"

"Want to hit the library before breakfast..." he said, knowing Hermione would approve, "how come you're up?" He asked as he took a seat across from her. He couldn't risk Ginny feeling whatever the feeling was every time the two girls touched and come to in the middle of his information gathering.

"Couldn't sleep... something weird happened at the dueling club last night..." Hermione began and then went on to tell him everything that happened the night before. Not until she came to the part about the snake dis he receive two pieces of information that interested him.

"Harry told us when he got back that he had told the snake to back off; he didn't know he was doing it. He thought he was speaking English! Anyway, Justin freaked out and ran off."

She had given him his next victim and something to think about. He told Hermione he'd better get going and left.

"So the boy's a Parselmouth and he didn't even know it..." He couldn't understand how it was possible but, with glee, realised that it would help with his grand finale. If only he could find a way to talk to Harry Potter.

He made himself invisible, and for good measure, added warming and impervious charms as the weather was horrible, as soon as he was outside and headed down to dispatch the rooster again. It had all gone off without a hitch, he even collected another jar of blood for future use and hid it in the bathroom with the entrance to his Chamber. He was about to take off his charm when he noticed a bunch of Gryffindors exiting the tower and entered before the portrait had closed. When he entered he saw Hermione and the boys a little ways off and went over to eavesdrop.

"Herbology is canceled," he heard Hermione tell the boys.

"Excellent…" he thought then, once he'd figured out what time their class was, went upstairs to rest.

By the time he went to find Justin his plan was fully formed. He had another experiment he wanted to try and it promised to be fun. First he tracked down Justin in a dark corridor, cast the Imperious curse on him and sent him into a dark corner to wait. Running down to the Chamber's entrance he opened it and called to the snake; "Come my pet… time for some exercise and play..."

"Kill master? Please let me kill..." He heard the snake hissing as it approached.

"Not this time, my pet... but definitely next time," he promised. "Follow me through the pipes and I'll tell you when to attack..."

"Yes, master..." the snake replied before Tom headed back to where he had left Justin. He took off his invisibility charm and looked for something as he went.

"Nick! Hey Nick!" He called to the Gryffindor ghost. When the ghost turned to him he said, "I found this boy upstairs and something seems wrong with him... I was hoping maybe you could help?" The ghost nodded, his head almost falling off as he did, and followed him.

As they drew closer he listened intently to make sure his pet was still nearby. Once they had gotten close enough, Tom commanded Justin to where he could be seen and to stand completely still. As Nick approached the boy for a closer look he called softly: "Now my pet... show yourself to the boy."

The Snake reared behind him and the boy turned to stone and then, when Nick turned to look at him, he too was petrified.

"It worked..." Tom thought. "Go, my pet, before you are discovered." He watched as the snake disappeared down the nearest pipe and then went to take a better look at Nick and chuckled when he realised Justin had fallen oven. He heard Peeves banging away nearby and thought; "Perfect..." Since it was a deserted hallway he needed someone to notice the boy. He tracked down the poltergeist and gently nudged him in the right direction.


	12. Purrfect Excuse

News of the double attack spread quickly and Tom had been quite delighted when he found out the Potter boy had found him. He was controlling Ginny pretty much full time now. He would ease his control when she slept and kept her in a relatively conscious state for her classes. The rest of the time, when he was in full control, he trapped her in her daydreams. He really wanted to get his diary into Harry hand's for bit and he felt he was strong enough to chance the separation of the diary from Ginny for a short while. He just needed his chance.

…

When Hermione woke early Christmas morning she was too excited to go back to sleep; if she brewed her Polyjuice potion correctly, it should be ready. She dressed quickly and all but ran to Myrtle's toilet to check in on it and was delighted to find that all it needed was more Lacewings: it would be ready by that evening.

She walked quickly back to the Common Room, somehow not surprised but frustrated nonetheless when she found the boys weren't up yet. She ran up to her dorm, grabbed the Christmas gifts, and ran up to their dorm to wake them.

Hermione had expected them to at least be awake and figured they were busy opening their gifts but she annoyed instead when she found them still asleep. She walked over to the window and opened the curtains wide; "Wake up!" she said loudly as she turned back to them.

"Hermione, you're not supposed to be in here," Ron whined.

"Merry Christmas to you, too..." she said as she tried to throw his gift at his head; "I've been up for nearly an hour, adding more Lacewings to the potion. It's ready."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked as he sat up.

She assured that them it was and then, with nothing to do until they could enact their plan, they tried to enjoy the day and the Christmas feast as best they could. After they had all stuffed their faces she ushered the boys into the Entrance Hall and told them how to get some pieces of Crabbe and Goyle. Once she was sure they could handle it she went on ahead to check on the potion and grab the spare robes she had stolen from the laundry. When she checked on the potion she was pleased to see that it was ready.

When the boys arrived a short time later, they added the hairs and retreated to separate stalls to transform. She entered her stall, took one last look at the sickly yellow potion, pinched her nose closed and with a; "Here goes nothing," swallowed it one go. It tasted like it looked and by the time it hit her stomach she was on her knees. She stared at her hands in horror as hair began to sprout from them and they turned into paws. "Oh no," she muttered, it had never occurred to her that it was cat hair on the ugly girl's robes. She'd never even looked at the part of the book that mentioned accidental animal transformation. As she stood she realised with new horror that she had a tail. She heard the boys moving around outside her stall... she knew if they saw her they would waste valuable time. There was nothing she could do but get them to go and hope they found out something useful.

"C'mon we need to go..." Ron called as he banged on the door and startled her.

"I... I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me," she replied, trying to not sound as scared as she was. "Is this even reversible?" she thought.

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you," he reasoned.

"No... really... I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time." Besides she wanted to look up the potion to see just how much trouble she was in. As soon as she heard them leave she scrambled from the stall to look in a mirror. It was worse than she thought: not only did she have the paws and the tail of a cat but she also had the ears, eyes and whiskers. If it weren't for how much trouble she was about to be in she'd almost laugh.

She ran back to the stall where she had left the book: she never bothered to read the part about animal hairs, positive that it was a mistake she wouldn't make, and could only hope that it would wear off like the normal potion. He heart fell when she found her answer. Yes it would wear off... but it would take at least a month. She began to cry when she realised how much trouble she was going to be in. How in the world was she going to explain this?

Myrtle came by to see who was crying and was shocked when she found Hermione. The ghost began to laugh gleefully, Hermione had never seen her so happy, and began to taunt her. She finally had enough and was about to tell the ghost that, although she may look like a cat, she was still prettier, when the boys returned.

Ron pounded on the door of her stall; "Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you…"

"Go away!" she squeaked back.

"What's the matter? You must be back to normal by now, we are..." she was just about to show them when Myrtle made an appearance.

"Oooooooooh wait till you see, it's awful…" the ghost said dramatically.

Thinking Myrtle was having far too much fun at her expense so exited the stall to show them.

"It was a c-cat hair!" she yelled, mostly to drown own Myrtle who was flying around the bathroom laughing gleefully. "M… Millicent Bulstrode must have a cat! The potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"

"Uh-oh," Ron said unhelpfully

"You'll be teased something dreadful," Myrtle taunted.

"It's okay, Hermione, we'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions..."

Although she still wasn't sure she wouldn't be getting into trouble and have to explain, her decision was made when Myrtle taunted her again.

"Wait till everyone finds out you've got a tail!" the ghost called after them as they left.

….

Tom heard the rumors of Hermione's transformation and needed to see for himself, so one morning just after the new term started, he decided to go see her. He was planning on making her the next target and he wanted an idea when she would be healthy again. Ginny had been very compliant lately and he wanted to see what would happen if he let her have a little control back.

He snuck them to the Hospital Wing early one morning and then sat back and watched as Ginny talked to the Hermione as herself for the first time in months.

"Wait," Ginny thought; "how'd I get here?" Tom turned her gaze to Hermione and felt her stomach clench. The 'how' of how she got there slipped her mind and she approached Hermione tentatively. She was pleased to see that she was almost human looking again and obviously feeling okay as she had her nose in a book. "Hi," she said meekly.

"Oh hey, Ginny, I was wondering if I'd get to see you..." Ginny blushed, encouraged she stepped closer. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"It was okay," she said but added in thought; "Missed you though."

"What happened, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Hermione noticed that Ginny looked sad and decided to tell her the mishap with the Polyjuice potion. Tom couldn't contain himself when he heard about the cat hair and accidently muttered loud enough for Ginny to notice; "Stupid little Mudblood..."

Ginny flushed, she was angry. It was the first time she'd been close to herself for weeks and she was determined to punish Tom for the insult. She reached out to touch Hermione's hand, wanting to feel that pleasant sensation again to prove to herself that this wasn't a dream. "You're so soft," she said as softly as a whisper, and then looked up at Hermione. She was looking at her with a puzzled expression. "I... I should get to class... feel better soon, okay Hermione?"

Hermione briefly turned her hand over to squeeze Ginny's. "Thanks for the visit Gin... it's nice seeing someone other than the boys," she said warmly; "See you again soon?"

As Ginny nodded and let Hermione's hand go she realised it was the first time she'd used her nickname. She heard Tom chuckling and wanted to yell at him. She knew he could hear her thoughts but she wanted the satisfaction of actually yelling at him. She ran to the Myrtle's bathroom figuring it was as good as place as any.

"What the hell was that Tom?!" She yelled as soon as she entered.

"Good," he thought "she's angry... let's see if I can push her a little further"

"I'm sorry Ginny it was a common term in my time... but you have to admit, she does look better as a cat!" He joked.

"Tom that is horrible, how dare you?" Ginny spat.

"What? You could've kept her as pet... then she could curl up in your lap and you could pet her all day..."

Ginny's following verbal explosion was only cut short by the appearance of Moaning Myrtle.

"What's all this shouting?" She asked.

Roaring in frustration Ginny threw Tom's diary through the ghost's stomach and left in a rush.

"Excellent," thought Tom, now all he needed was for Harry to find it... he retreated far enough into Ginny's mind so that she'd think he'd gone and waited for Harry.

…

Hermione had to stay in the Hospital Wing for weeks and was still there when the new term started. The boys visited her most days and had already told her what they'd learned from Malfoy. She was actually impressed they had pulled it off when they told her how they got in the Slytherin Common Room. The only new information they had was that Lucius Malfoy knew something and had warned Draco to just sit back and watch, the last time was about fifty years ago, a Muggleborn had died and the suspect was sent to Azkaban.

She had been surprised one morning a few days after term started when she looked up to find Ginny staring at her. For some reason she had felt like purring. "Stupid cat," she thought. When Ginny had asked what happened she decided the girl looked sad and tried to cheer up by telling her the story leaving out the information they'd gotten from Malfoy. For some reason she'd seen her blush before she reached out and touched the hair on the back of her hand. When she'd whispered; "You're so soft," Hermione had been secretly grateful that the hair on her face had yet to fully disappear for it hid the blush she felt colouring her cheeks. And when Ginny had looked at her and thanked her, she just about purred again when she turned her hand over to hold Ginny's and felt that pleasant tingling sensation again. Then she'd gotten a weird look on her face, like she was angry about something, and left. Hermione had been sorry to see her go, watching her walk all the way out of the Hospital Wing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, I know this one is short but I really have no control over the length of my chapters. I start knowing what I need to achieve for the chapter using the original book as sort of an outline, but I never know just how long it will take me to get there. I tried to lengthen this chapter but I don't want to add something just for that reason otherwise I'll just end up regurgitating real big portions of the original book. In other words, all scenes have a reason... even if you don't know what they are yet ;). Hope you enjoyed this chapter...


	13. Scapegoat

Hermione had been thinking about that morning's visit with Ginny, and had found herself purring when she heard footsteps approaching her curtain. Hoping it was Ginny she hadn't noticed that the footfalls were far too heavy to be her and looked up as Lockhart came around the corner.

"Ah, Miss Granger, I heard you were still here, how are you feeling?" He asked although he seemed nervous for some reason and Hermione wanted to know why.

"Has he actually put two and two together and realized that maybe this was his, well indirectly of course, fault? That he had played a part even?" So, as she was curious, she appealed to his ego; "Oh Professor Lockhart, how nice of you to come see me..."she stammered, trying to sound nervous.

Lockhart beamed and handed her a gift he had in his hand. When she opened it she found a signed copy of one of his books and a get well card. "Oh God," she thought as she read the card, "the boys can't see this!" As much fun as she had playing the laughing, giggling, love-struck schoolgirl around the boys, she sure as hell was not giving them ammunition like this. Deciding she'd hide it under her pillow as soon as he left, she stammered a thanks, and expected him to leave. But he didn't.

He took a seat on Hermione's bed and for some reason he looked lost and scared: almost like he was the child and not her. "Professor Lockhart? Is there something wrong?" she asked carefully.

Lockhart pulled a chain from around his neck and pulled out the pendent that was attached to it. It looked like a small potion bottle with fine braided gold wires that held it. Hermione could see the bottle was cracked, and although it was pretty, she wondered why he kept it. He finally looked back to her and sighed when he realised what she was staring at.

"Miss Granger," he said, sounding serious and nothing like himself, "I know you've already explained to everyone how this happened and they seem to believe you, but..." he took a deep breath; "I was wondering if there wasn't, well, more to the story?"

Her cover story had been that she had drunk an unknown potion on a dare and this was the result. She started to wonder if maybe Lockhart had glanced the book's title when he had signed for it.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Professor," she replied, almost choking on the word professor.

"Miss Granger," he looked at her slyly, "I remember you asking me to sign for a book a while back. I know it was some sort of potion book but signed for it anyways thinking you couldn't do much harm with a potion."

"Wow, maybe he does have a clue," thought Hermione, but before she could say anything he continued.

"If someone was to find out that this," and he waved a hand at her, "was because of that book, I could be in a lot of trouble," he admitted and looked away.

Hermione had a feeling that Dumbledore and the others had already figured it out and had decided not to punish her as missing classes while looking like a cat was punishment enough. It wouldn't have been hard for them to recognize a Polyjuice Potion gone wrong, checked the library, and found the note Lockhart had given her. She wanted to assure him that if he hadn't gotten in trouble yet, chances were, he had nothing to worry about.

"Professor?" She said to get his attention: she wanted to ease his worry without coming out and telling him the whole truth. Besides, it wasn't like he'd come in trying to fix her so. "It was really just a dare," he looked unconvinced; "even if I _had_ made a potion and it _had_ gone wrong and it _did_ come from _that_ book... don't you think they'd have figured all that out by now and questioned you?"

He sighed; "Thank you Miss Granger..." he smiled; "I'd appreciate, of course, if this stays between us?" She nodded. "Thank you... I look forward to seeing you back in class," he added as he returned the pendant to its place beneath his robes. He met her eyes once more, nodded and then took his leave.

A few minutes later she heard footsteps she recognized as belonging to the boys. She hastily shoved Lockhart's card under the pillow and waited for them to appear to give her the day's homework. It was bad enough being in the Hospital Wing alone, with no one to talk to, but at least her homework kept her busy.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers, I'd take a break from work," Ron said as he put her books on the table.

"Yeah... course you would," she thought, "Anything to get out of work," but answered instead; "Don't be silly, Ron, I've got to keep up!" she said, playing the bookworm card again. She turned to them and whispered; "I don't suppose you've got any new leads?"

"Nothing," Harry said darkly.

"I was so sure it was Malfoy," Ron said for about the hundredth time.

Hermione was about to tease him when Harry noticed her get well card, "What's that?" He asked.

She tried to hide it but Ron grabbed it and then read it out loud.

"You sleep with it under your pillow?" he teased, a disgusted look on his face.

Before she could reply Madam Pomfrey had come around the curtain to give her her nightly sleeping potions. Wishing them a good night and vowing to destroy the card as soon as possible, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

…

Ton was passing the time waiting for Harry to find the diary by watching Ginny go about the rest of her day. It was amazing, he thought, that she had yet to realize that not all her actions were her own. Well to some degree they were... Tom felt it pointless to control her during classes and the like, but when he needed information, he'd let her talk while he slightly steered the conversation if needed. He'd been looking for a way to get his diary in Harry's hands and he had angered her enough to make her throw it away. He'd steered her to this bathroom for a few reasons. It was rarely used, but knowing that the boy had come there to create the potion, there was a chance he'd come back. Curiosity was an easy motive to manipulate and he figured the boy would be back at some point.

He started to let his mind wander when he heard; "Even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw; I'm going to Dumbledore..." It was the squib caretaker and Tom sighed... all he could do was wait and hope Harry found the diary.

His heart lept when he heard the door open and Harry's voice ask, "What's up Myrtle?" Tom listened while the ghost explained about a book getting thrown through her stomach and how she'd been upset and flooded the washroom. He was ecstatic when the ghost pointed out the diary to the boys. The girl had been annoying fifty years ago, but at least she was being useful now.

When Harry touched the diary for the first time he felt something he hadn't felt before. The diary had been held by many over the years but he'd never but this he'd never felt before. He was pulled from his musing and then annoyed when he heard Harry say: "He must've been Muggle-born to have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road..." as he pocketed the diary.

Tom was still using a considerable amount of energy keeping his control over Ginny, but in the weeks that passed since Harry had found it, he tried to find out more about the boy. It was the beginning of February when once again he was stirred from his thoughts.

His attention had been gotten when he heard Harry talking about finding the diary and handed it to Hermione. While she held it for a moment he decided to take a peek in the clever girl's mind. What he found was a brilliant mind, which he had expected, but what surprised him was, Hermione thought about Ginny quite a bit too. He could tell she has feelings for the girl but she hasn't realised that there's anything well, different about them.

"Maybe he murdered Myrtle?" Ron offered; "that would've done everyone a favour..."

He felt Hermione's excitement as the realisation hit her and she explained to the boys. "She really is clever... I can see why Ginny likes her so much," he thought, "maybe a little too clever," he mused. He needed Harry to read the diary, and soon, before Hermione got any further. He needed to get back to Ginny so he could take care of the filthy little Mudblood before she had a chance to give Harry too much information. It was essential that he get the boy to the Chamber, but he needed to show him something first. It wasn't till a week later that a plan started to form.

…

Ginny and Luna were hanging out together a couple of days before Valentine's Day. It was a rare nice day and they had gone to sit in the courtyard. Luna had been relating a particularly fun stunt she had pulled when she noticed that Ginny's attention had shifted elsewhere. She turned and looked to see Hermione and the boys entering the castle and sighed. "When is she going to tell me?" She thought. Then she had an idea. "Hey Gin," she said pulling the girl's attention back to her, "I heard she got out of the Hospital Wing, how's she doing?"

Ginny sighed and turned to her friend; "I don't know… she seems fine..." she sighed again; "I haven't had a chance to talk to her."

"You know," Luna said thoughtfully, "it's really quite impressive she was able to make that potion. It's really quite finicky. I saw my Mum make it once," she noticed Ginny's eyebrows rise; "She and Dad used it all the time. They liked to switch, she'd become him and vice versa, and then go out and experience the world as the opposite gender for a while. I never really understood it myself, but I got really good at telling who was who." She waited until Ginny had stopped laughing, "If Hermione hadn't mixed up the hairs..."

Still laughing, she told Luna about Lockhart's plan to have Dwarves dress as little Cupids and hand out cards for Valentines. "It sounds like it's going to a lot of fun. I'm tempted to send you one just to watch..."

"Why don't you send Hermione one?" Luna suggested, trying to sound innocent but at the same time, really curious at how her friend would respond.

Ginny blushed and seemed to think it over for a minute. "Why would I do that Luna? She's a girl... she wouldn't want a card from me..." she sighed sadly but then smiled; "It would be nice to make her smile though..."

Luna considered telling her friend that maybe Hermione would be very happy to receive a card from Ginny as she had caught Hermione looking in her friend's direction more than once. But what if she was wrong?

"Well, send one to Harry then..." Luna half-joked.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea... Hermione told me that Ron thinks I have a crush on Harry. I'll make sure the dwarf gives it to him when she's around and she'll find it funny because she knows it isn't true. And, oh Merlin, Harry is going to be so embarrassed but it'll get his mind off this whole heir business for a bit and it'll be so fun to watch him squirm."

"I see you've been taking lesson from me," Luna replied laughing, "okay... if we're going to do this we need to make it as embarrassing and funny as possible."

As the two set to work on Harry's valentine Tom sat at the back of her mind and formed his next plan.

...

A few days later Ginny tracked down one of the Cupid Dwarves to give him the poem for Harry. She and Luna had spent a good hour working on it making sure to make it as funny and ridiculous as possible. She was worried that Hermione wouldn't get the humor, but if all else failed, she figured everyone would get a good laugh. She gave the dwarf explicit instructions: give it to Harry in front of Hermione, give it to him at all cost, make sure she was there to watch it and find a way to rip his bag. She wasn't sure where that last instruction came from but figured it would add to the fun, so why not?

It wasn't until later that afternoon that she watched the Dwarf follow Harry towards her. The Dwarf looked to her for the sign, she nodded, and then proceeded to harass Harry as much as possible. The Dwarf had seemed all too happy to agree with Ginny's request. He had told her that he had no choice but to deliver the damned cards all day and here was one student telling him to go ahead and embarrass the boy as much as possible.

"Oy, you!" he yelled. Ginny felt her wand point towards Harry's book bag as he passed her with the Dwarf trailing closely behind. She was very scared all off a sudden and thought of the diary for the first time in weeks. She had come to her senses the night she threw the diary at Myrtle and gone to get it back but it was gone. She started to worry about it but then calmed when she remembered Tom's promise that only she could access what she had written. And then, well, it slipped her mind.

She watched on in amusement even if all she could see of Hermione was her hair as she stood partially behind another student. "Enjoy the show," she thought.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," the Dwarf announced.

"Nice touch," thought Ginny. It hadn't been one of her requests directly but she supposed she had told him to embarrass Harry as much as possible. She watched as Harry looked around in horror and realised he was facing a whole class of first years.

"Not here," Harry said angrily while trying to escape.

"Bad idea," Ginny thought as the Dwarf saw his opening to tear Harry's bag. She laughed as it hit the ground. Eventually Harry gave up trying to retrieve his, now ink soaked, books and make for a run for it. The Dwarf tackled him by the ankles and then sat on him so he couldn't run away again.

The Dwarf looked to Ginny briefly and started his tune:

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair as dark as a blackboard.

I wish he was mine, he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord!"

Ginny wasn't really watching Harry though. When the Dwarf had looked at her and she nodded, she had looked up to see Hermione looking at her puzzled; "You?" She mouthed. Ginny shrugged. She saw Hermione smile and wink at her before turning her attention to the song.

She was lost in thought watching Hermione when she heard Harry cry; "Give that back," she looked from him to whom he was talking to and her heart sank when she say Malfoy holding Tom's diary.

"No!" She and Tom thought, but for entirely different reasons. She was worried that Malfoy would read it but then realized with horror that if Harry had had it all this time he may have already found a way to read it.

Tom needed the diary in Harry's hands, especially since he knew the boy would soon figure out how it worked. When Ginny had been making her plan with Luna he saw a quick way to accomplish many goals at once. His plan was to break the ink in Harry's bag and then have the Dwarf rip the bag to explain the spilled ink. He knew that the other books would be covered but the diary would absorb it thus showing the boy how it worked. There were a few reasons he needed Ginny there... he needed her close enough to perform her magic and he needed her to see the diary so she would come looking for it soon. The diary had to be back in her possession before he could finally deal with the Granger girl as he was worried that she was putting the pieces together too quickly. If the boy found the Chamber before he, Tom, was ready, it would all be for nothing. He was about to intervene with Ginny's magic again when the boy got the diary back himself.

…

Later that night Tom felt a thrill of excitement as he felt the spark of compression that hit Harry as he had rifled the pages.

"Tonight," Tom thought, "I find out how you defeated me..."

"My name is Harry Potter."

"No, really?" he smirked as he waited for Harry's words to disappear before responding; "Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by diary?" he wrote. "I put it right in your path, of course," he thought. "Now time to start reeling him in."

He waited for Harry's response to again vanish before continuing:"Lucky that I recorded my memories in a way more lasting than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read." He could feel the boy's excitement grow along with his own. "Oh this is going to be fun," he thought. He led Harry along the path he wanted him to follow until he was able to immerse the boy into one of his own memories. Harry was so enthralled by the memory Tom was showing him that it made wandering around Harry's mind easy.

What Tom found he couldn't understand: first he went back to his defeat of the year before, when whatever was left of him, whatever he had become, had managed to possess a wizard and had attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He felt horror along with Harry when the face at the back of the wizard's skull was revealed. What had he been reduced to? What had this boy done to him? Before he went back further, he looked in on the memory.

They were in Dippet's office and the Headmaster had just told him that, due to recent events, there was no way he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer. He had been so angry with himself. It was his own fault. He hadn't meant to kill Myrtle. She was annoying, yes, but he had always known that if one of them died they might close the school. It was the reason he'd been experimenting all year. He needed to be near the school, he needed to be with Ginny and he needed to get the boy to the Chamber. If someone died, or more likely two people died, they would close the school. He was hoping if another body showed up turned to stone they might oust Dumbledore and Hagrid from the school: the only two people that were here last time he opened the Chamber. The next two steps in his plan couldn't happen however until Ginny got the diary back. He went back to rifling though Harry's mind when he saw his sixteen year old self talking to Dumbledore.

"I never liked that man. Always looking at me like he knew something I didn't. I really hope I get to kill him soon," Tom thought as he went back to Harry's memories easily and found what he was looking for.

He watched as his older self approached the boy. He felt Harry's horror but he himself was in awe of the wizard he had become. He could feel the magic radiating off him in waves. He saw the excitement in the red eyes. He wondered what threat this boy had posed that he had come to kill him and was looking so triumphant about it as he watched as a green light approach the boy and then, nothing… the boy had blacked out and only came to when a long haired man took him from the crib.

He came back to the memory he was showing Harry when he felt the boys fear. Ah yes, the spider. He had known for some time that Hagrid was caring for the Acromantula, but hadn't cared. If anything, he knew from the beginning that he could use it as a scapegoat if ever needed. When he accidentally killed Myrtle he knew he wouldn't be able to stay at the castle that summer and it was vital that he did. He wanted a chance to explore some more while there were fewer people around to ask questions.

The other reason Tom had used Hagrid as a scapegoat was because he knew Hagrid wouldn't be able to defend himself properly. So he had turned him in in hopes that they'd accept the lie and let it go but unfortunately he had still not been allowed to stay.

Confident Harry was going to reach the conclusion he wanted him to he released him from the memory and was satisfied when he heard Harry exclaim: "It was Hagrid, Ron. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago!"

As Tom retreated from Harry's mind he wondered why it had been so easy to make his way through Harry's memories. When he tried the same thing with Ginny it was like going through mud. But with Harry, it was like there was a part of the boy that wanted Tom to see these memories. He had known the minute the boy had touched the diary there was something different about him. It wasn't like the connection he shared with Ginny that had been nourished over weeks and weeks. No, this was different, but he had no idea why.

Once Harry had returned the diary to its hiding spot he called out to Ginny's dreams. The first time he had done so since she'd tossed the diary. By the end he knew she'd be longing to get the diary back, if for no other reason than to see the end of her dream.


	14. The Next Step

Tom waited patiently, well, as patiently as he could. He was frustrated that Ginny had yet to come and fetch the diary. He tried to influence her dreams but the further and longer they were apart, the harder a time he was having.

It wasn't until the middle of March that Tom finally had his opportunity: Harry had finally left the diary behind when he went to Quidditch practice. He waited until he could hear the dorm was empty and then he searched out Ginny. He was pleased to find her daydreaming in Hermione's chair in the Common Room.

"Ginny..." he whispered, unable to do anything more as he'd grown so weak; "Ginny I miss you, I need you... please Ginny," he pleaded and felt her look around.

"Where are you Tom?"

"You know where I am... Harry's dorm... come now, he's gone."

"Someone will see me going in there," she replied noticing all the students in the Common Room.

"No... go to the stairs of your dorm. Place your wand on your head, I will make you invisible."

Ginny did as she was told and re-emerged in the Common Room a few minutes later completely invisible to all those around her. It had been an almighty effort for Tom to perform the invisibility charm but it was necessary. He knew they were getting close and he had to be back in Ginny possession before anything could happen.

Ginny waited until no one was looking and opened the door to the boys' dormitory stairs and ran up them to Harry's dorm. She was frantic in her search. Tom knew exactly where the diary was hidden and could have helped her but he felt she deserved to feel a little of the desperation he was feeling at her delay. When he finally felt her lay her hands on the diary he felt a surge of power and took Ginny over more completely than ever before.

Early the next morning he went down to Chamber and called his pet. As he waited at the Chamber's entrance he retrieved the last of the rooster blood he had collected and transfigured it as he had done the one before hiding it away again. He didn't need it yet but he had a feeling things were about to progress very quickly indeed. It would be one less thing to worry about when the final act came.

"Master? So hungry... kill, master?"

"Yes my pet... time to kill... roam the school until I call for you... I need to find her..."

…

Hermione was worried when Harry told her the diary had been stolen but she had other things on her mind. She and the boys were on their way to the Quidditch pitch when Harry stopped; "That voice…" said Harry.

"Oh my God," Hermione thought; "What do Harry and Salazar Slytherin have in common?" and slapped her forehead as the boys looked on in bemusement. "Harry... I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!" she explained before running off. She reached the library and was once again stunned by the sheer amount of books it contained. Oh how she missed Muggle libraries sometimes. Yes, the Hogwarts library was well organized and had so many books, but she missed being able to do a quick computer search and find the books she needed. She walked over to the section on magical beasts and pulled down five different books; "Damn, I really miss computers sometimes," she mumbled. But at least she had an idea of what she was looking for.

It had been the thought: what did Harry and Salazar Slytherin have in common? When Harry heard the voice she realised what it was. Parseltongue... the beast must be some sort of snake. She looked at several until she came upon the Basilisk. She read it quickly and it all fit: the spiders, the roosters, the petrified people... it all came to her in a rush of understanding. The Basilisk's stare was supposed to kill, but no one had seen it directly... she needed a mirror. If Harry heard it, it must be getting ready to attack again. "But how is the damned thing getting around," she thought. Then it hit her... the pipes. She hastily wrote pipes on the page before tearing it from the book. She needed to show the boys.

Looking around the library she spied an older Ravenclaw girl: "Um, excuse me?" she said to get the girl's attention. When she looked up, she continued; "I know this is going to sound weird but, would you happen to have a mirror with you?" The girl look surprised but nodded and reached into her bag.

"What do you need it for?" Hermione was tempted to tell her everything but instead just explained the basics. She thought she knew what the beast was and the safest way to get around the castle was with a mirror to check around corners. The older girl seemed scared so Hermione invited her to join her. She was intending to head to the Quidditch pitch to tell the boys what she had found and figured they'd both be safe once they were outside.

The left the library together and at each corner Hermione checked with the mirror before going on. She wasn't far from the library when she heard movement up ahead. She carefully aimed the mirror around the corner and saw it, but before she could congratulate herself being right she had turned to stone.

Tom, who had been following Hermione all morning, waiting to get her alone, felt his heart sink. He was tempted to call the snake first but the timing had to be right. He also wanted to know what Hermione knew and so he followed her, invisible as usual.

She searched the library a moment mumbling something about missing something called the "a computer". His excitement grew when she pulled a book called, "Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them," from the shelf. He peered over her shoulder when she found what she was looking for and read along with her; "Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known as the King of Serpents..."

"She knows... she knows..." he thought and ran from the library. He called to his pet and together they waited around a corner to wait for Hermione to exit the library. It wasn't long before he heard the telltale sound of a stone body hit the floor. "Wait... what happened? I meant to kill the girl," he thought as he went to check on her.

There Hermione laid, another older girl beside her, clutching a mirror. He laughed to himself; "Clever girl." He sent the snake away and then took a closer look at Hermione. She was holding a piece of paper in her right hand. When he looked closer he saw that it was the page from the library book. He considered destroying it, but then he had an idea. He looked at it one last time and noticed she had written "pipes" on the page. "Too clever," he thought as he refolded the paper and wedged it into her right hand. He needed Harry to figure it out, but not quite yet. This way he could check on Hermione from time to time and see if the paper was still there, like an early warning sign. He decided this one would far be far too much fun to watch and retreated to an alcove to watch the mayhem ensue.

Later that night he watched Harry and Ron deep in conversation. Obviously the girl's accident had upset them. Invisible as usual he wandered closer to hear Harry whisper; "We've got to talk to him. I can't believe it's him this time, but if he set the monster loose last time he'll know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets, and that's a start."

"But McGonagall said we've got to stay in our tower unless we're in class..." Ron cautioned.

"I think," replied Harry, "it's time to get my Dad's old cloak out again." Tom suspected the boy had an invisibility cloak and decided to leave the boy to go visit Hagrid. A little while later he became bored and decided to wander the castle. He thought maybe he'd follow the boys and went to the Entrance Hall to wait.

He was there when he saw a short wizard with a twirling bowler hat in his hand accompanying Dumbledore from the castle. He followed them to the door and watched as they headed in the direction of Hagrid's hut. "Well there goes one," he thought. He wasn't sure who the man with Dumbledore was, but one look at the older wizard's face told Tom that Hagrid was about to get sacked. He grinned and was lost in thought when he saw a tall blond haired wizard approach the castle a little while later. He heard the man ask where he could find Dumbledore and then he came back out and also headed towards Hagrid's. Curious, Tom followed.

When the door opened he listened in on the conversation, "Already here, Fudge, good, good..." he heard the blond wizard drawl.

"What are you doing here? Get outta my house!" Hagrid bellowed.

"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being inside your, er, did you call this a house?" Tom was starting to like this man, "I simply called at the school and was told that the Headmaster was here."

"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" asked Dumbledore.

"Lucius?" Tom thought; "As in Malfoy?" he could feel the rage in the pit of his stomach. Yes, the man was far older than her remembered him but he seemed well and able… why had he not come to his aid?

"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," he said as he pulled a long parchment from his robe, "but the Governor's feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension... you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? At this rate, there'll be no Muggleborns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school."

"Now see here Lucius," the smaller man blundered, "Dumbledore suspended... no, no... last thing we want right now..."

"The appointment, or suspension, of the Headmaster is a matter for the Governors, Fudge. And as Dumbledore has failed to stop the attacks..." they all argued in a very polite manner

Dumbledore's shoulders seem to slump… Tom knew the man well enough to know he was trying to find out and had finally accepted defeat. But then the old wizard did something weird. He looked around the hut as though searching for someone until his eyes rested on something in the corner. Tom followed his gaze and listened as Dumbledore said; "However, you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

"So, the boys are here..." Tom thought as he noticed the toe of runner where Dumbledore had been staring.

Tom was pondering the Headmaster's statement knowing it had been directed to Harry and wondered vaguely what the old man was doing when Hagrid added; "If anyone wanted ter find out some more stuff, all they'd have to do would be to follow the spiders. That'd lead em right! That's all I'm saying."

"So the spider has survived all this time," he thought. Tom had a feeling that Harry was going to do something drastic and seek out Hagrid's old pet. "That thing must be huge by now. Hope it doesn't kill him." Tom wanted that pleasure himself, but with Hermione out of the way, he knew the boy would look for answers wherever he could find them. Of course, if he'd found the note hidden in Hermione's hand already… but no, he was sure he'd have heard them mention it. "Damn," he thought, "I'm going to have to help them." He felt a plan forming as he returned to the castle and was sorely tempted to do it tonight, but it was late and Ginny was tired, he could feel it in her body. Better to rest and sneak out in the morning.

The next morning Tom woke her before the sun had really risen and was heading towards the Forbidden Forest as the sun broke over the horizon. He glanced back at the castle; he was fairly certain no one was watching, but playing it safe, made himself invisible. He had been thinking it over all night and had come up with two plans. Both had their drawbacks. The first was simple: find the ancient spider Aragog, convince it not to kill the boy or go in wand blazing and kill the lot before Harry ever found them. He seriously doubted that even He could convince the spiders to not eat the boys or for that matter, eat Ginny, should he reveal himself. Killing them all would be difficult, messy and tiring. He needed every last bit of energy he could get as the final act of his grand scheme was fast approaching.

He decided to go for the backup plan on how to keep Harry safe from the spiders. He remembered Harry saying that the flying car that had flown him and Ron to Hogwarts had gone off into the Forbidden Forest. Tom knew it was a long shot. He wasn't sure he'd find the car, let alone what he'd do with it when he did. He figured, worst case scenario, he'd simply wait in the car, follow the boys until they needed rescuing, and then invisibly, he would drive the boys to safety. Personally he thought it was far more trouble than it was worth and hoped that when he found the car he could come up with something better.

It had taken him most of the morning to finally find it after narrowly missing a herd of Centaurs. As he approached the car its lights came on, as if sensing someone nearby. He wondered if the car had some sort of sentience and would recognize Ginny so he removed his charm and let the car see him. He was rewarded as the car slowly crept towards him.

He regarded it for a moment and then asked; "Can you understand me? Blink your headlights once for yes, twice for no." The lights blinked once. "Do you remember the two boys who brought you here?" One blink and low growl from the car's engine replied. "I need you to keep them safe when they come into the forest." The car blinked twice. "Damn," he thought, "Well if it can think, maybe it can be controlled." He pointed his wand and whispered; "Imperio," and asked the car again; "You will keep the boys safe from the spiders. Do you understand?" One blink. "Don't save them until they've spoken to the spiders or it looks like they might die. Understood?" One blink. "Get them out of the forest and leave them on the grounds. You can do whatever you want after that. Understood?" One blink. "Well that was easy," he thought as he left the car behind and returned to the castle.

...

It was about a week before exams and the school year was drawing to a close and Tom was starting to think that Harry would never figure it out. He had checked on the note in Hermione's hand a few times, seen that it was still there and had listened in on the boys enough to know they were no closer. He had been keeping knowledge of Hermione's fate from Ginny since it happened for he feared that she would start to fight him if she let the despair overcome her. He still let her pay attention during classes but tuned her out whenever Hermione's name came up. When he overheard the boy's wondering if Myrtle was the witch killed fifty years ago he decided it was time for her to know… it was time to let Ginny feel the despair and feed from it. Soon he would take her to the Chamber.

"But how to let her know without just telling her?" he asked himself.

He looked around the Great Hall and spotted Luna went over to see her. As he approached her he let Ginny have control.

"Hey Luna..." she said she sat beside her at the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey you... how're you holding up?" Luna eyed her friend closely, looking for signs of strain. She looked tired and maybe a bit more pale than usual, but otherwise? Fine?

Ginny looked at her confused; "I'm fine, well as fine as everyone else I guess, why?"

Now Luna knew something was wrong. She still hadn't mentioned Hermione. Come to think of it, they hadn't once talked about her since she'd been petrified, she thought.

"Well Hermione of course..." Luna provided.

"What about Hermione?" Luna watched her friend's face as she explained what had happened: it was a look of pure shock. "How had she not known?" Luna wondered. But before she could question her, Tom had already taken control back and told Luna he was going to visit Hermione. It was true, he was planning to go see Hermione. He wanted to know if the note was still there. He could also tell that Ginny was having a hard time believing Luna's story, especially since so much time had passed and this was the first she was hearing of it. Tom knew she wouldn't believe until she saw for herself.

He let Ginny sneak into the Hospital Wing and approach Hermione and then sat back to watch what the girl would do.

"Oh Merlin, not Hermione…" she breathed as she edged closer. She reached out a tentative hand and touched the hand that had been holding the mirror. "So cold ," she thought. She let her gaze travel to Hermione's face. "A statue and still so beautiful." She reached out and touched Hermione's face and traced her lips with her fingers gently, wishing she could see her smile. She held Hermione's hand as best as was possible and whispered; "I think I love you... you need to come back to me so I can tell you."

Ginny thought she felt a small spark between their hands, enjoyed it for a moment, and let go. Tom looked for the note and relieved, saw it was still there.

"We'd better go Ginny..." he whispered to her and he felt her nod. She paused for a moment then went and placed a kiss on Hermione's forehead.

"I'm so sorry..." she said and then left the Hospital wing. Tom could feel Ginny's guilt growing and couldn't understand why. Had he not done everything to keep the truth of her own actions from her?

He let her stew with her thoughts for a few days before he decided to help her out. "Ginny? What's wrong? You seem worried..." he prodded gently.

"I can't figure out how I didn't know Hermione was attacked... I don't understand it, when Luna told me it was like I already knew but had forgotten that I did..." she replied.

"That was my fault," he admitted, "I was afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it and so I hid it from you to spare you the pain."

"What else have you hid from me Tom?" She asked, her anger starting to rise; "And why did you finally let me know?"

"Only that... and I let you know because I realized it was unfair of me to keep it from you."

She seemed to ponder this a moment and asked; "But why her Tom?" He was momentarily concerned that the girl had figured out he was responsible until she continued; "Why'd that stupid monster have to go after her?"

"So she doesn't know, good," he thought and then answered; "I don't know... maybe whoever is controlling it feared she knew too much?" He knew Ginny would accept this as she held Hermione's smarts in high regard. Although that much of what'd he told her was true it was also true that he had decided to use Hermione early on because of Ginny's feelings for her. He knew she would have to be in the deepest pit of despair before she'd yield to a dream so vivid she never want to leave it and give up all her control just to stay there.

…

Hermione had lain in the hospital wing for weeks. Not feeling. Not dreaming. Not doing anything except lay there, still as statue and collecting dust. Until one day she felt something. A warmth in her hand. She struggled to hold on but she couldn't move. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry out; "Please don't go!" When she heard a quiet voice whisper; "I think I love you... you need to come back to me so I can tell you," and then they were gone… and so was Hermione… lost to the world around her again.


	15. The Final Dream

It was just a few days before exams and Tom could feel Ginny's despair and unease growing. "She's ready," he thought, "I'm ready." All he was waiting for was for the two boys to find Hermione's note and figure out where the Chamber was. He had followed them into the Great Hall for breakfast and was there when Professor McGonagall announced to the hall; "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified..."

Tom felt Ginny's heart leap at the news. "Damn," he thought, "hadn't meant for her to hear that." Before he could resume full control she had sat beside Harry and her brother. He was curious as to what she had to say and thought; "Perhaps she can point the boys in the right direction before I take her down there?"

"Spit it out," Ron said, watching her.

"I've got tell you something..." she said and then was lost for words. "What did she want to tell them?" she asked herself.

"What is it?" Harry asked his tone curious.

"What?" prodded Ron.

Ginny opened her mouth to speak but nothing came. She didn't know what she wanted to tell them. "Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Someone acting oddly?" Harry asked.

"Yes, me," she thought but before she could answer she was interrupted by Percy.

"Well that was useless," Tom thought and he took Ginny over completely and ran from the hall. He needed to check the note, make it so it would draw Harry's attention. And so, disillusioning himself as he went, ran to the Hospital Wing. He quickly placed a charm on the paper that would draw the attention of the boys and then he allowed Ginny a moment to look at Hermione. She was too happy, too hopeful and he needed to fix that.

"It's your fault she's here," he whispered to Ginny.

"What are you talking about Tom?"

In response he let her see his memory of the attack. Hear herself give the order to attack and finally see herself in the mirror Hermione had been holding.

"Tom... No!" she gasped and ran from the Hospital Wing; "What did you make me do?" she asked aloud.

"She's going to hate you… you know?" he taunted.

"What?"

"When she wakes tonight and finds out you were responsible for all of it. Everything bad that happened this year...she'll blame you..."

"But Tom this… this was you!"

So lost was she in the argument Ginny hadn't realised that she was slowing walking to Myrtle's bathroom.

"I'm sorry Ginny... I hadn't meant for her to find out about your role... I _had_ meant to kill her..." He taunted further and as he felt her anger and despair grow Ginny lost control of her actions for the last time. Tom had full control and he immediately immersed her in a dream so vivid she wouldn't question it. As much as he would have preferred to let her wallow in despair he feared that it would eventually lead her to fight back. He was so strong, so in control... but he couldn't chance it. He needed her to want to stay in the dreamland he had created.

When finally he entered Myrtle's bathroom he knew he had a little time so looked in on the dream he had given her. He had been crafting it for weeks and he was quite proud of it. Ginny had found Hermione in the library with the book about the Basilisk. He watched as Ginny convinced Hermione to follow and led her away from danger when the Basilisk attacked and killed the Ravenclaw girl. He knew that together they would figure it all out, inform Dumbledore, admit their feelings for each other and live happily ever after. It wasn't hard for Ginny to lose herself in it as it was something she so badly wanted. He knew it was ironic that the key to his success lay in a dream about something he knew nothing of: love. But it was essential she no longer try to fight him as he was so close to achieving his ultimate goal. Tom looked at the jar of transfigured blood in his hands.

"Let it begin," he thought. Going out into the hallway he made sure the coast was clear and threw the blood at the wall. Waving his wand the words appeared: "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."

He thought for a moment, how would they know it's Ginny? He laid Ginny's wand beneath his message since he was sure the teacher's would be able to identify it and he didn't need it any longer. The Basilisk would take care of that and when he was done he'd have a new wand all his own.

"That," he thought, "ought to bring the boys," he smiled and went back into the bathroom. He opened the Chamber and sighed, he had never liked the trip down. He silently thought that, although Salazar Slytherin was brilliant, he could've come up with a better name and easier way to reach it. Closing the entrance behind him he slid down the chute.

When he reached the bottom he could feel Ginny growing weaker and it took the last of Ginny's strength to get her inside the Chamber. He laid her down at the base of the statue of Salazar Slytherin. He ignored Ginny's dream where Hermione had just declared her feelings and concentrated on draining her very life force.

It was excruciating. But slowly, ever so slowly as he felt her fade he felt himself begin to take shape. Tom sat up and examined his hand. Not quite solid, but almost. He stood and looked around. He almost felt human again… he could almost feel the beat of his own heart.

Tom passed the hours by pacing the Chamber, relishing the feeling of walking in his own body. He was almost there. He started making plans for what he would do once tonight's events had come to pass. He needed to find followers. He needed to find what remained of the wizard he had become. Together they would rule this world as he was always meant to. He spared a glance for Ginny and noticed a small smile on her lips. Looking into her dream for a moment he found the girls, slightly older, lying in bed wrapped in each other's arms discussing their upcoming wedding. He sighed and retreated. It had been all too easy to give Ginny the dream: all he had to do was place the key plot points and let the dream form itself. He had spent months perfecting the technique. In that way he could ensure Ginny's complicity while not actually having to _do_ anything. He was free to do what he wanted so long as she didn't fight the dream.

"And why would she fight the one thing she wants most?" He was thinking as he heard the door at the end of the Chamber open and retreated to the shadows.

"Finally..." he breathed.


	16. Awakenings

Tom watched from the shadows as Harry entered and then stopped and seemed to be listening for something. Harry pulled his wand from inside his robes and started walking towards him. The boy seemed to be taking in his surroundings and looking for danger behind every corner.

Finally Harry noticed Ginny at the foot of the statue. "Ginny," he muttered and sprinted towards her and dropped to his knees beside her. "Ginny! Please don't be dead!" he cried as he flung his wand aside and turned her over.

Tom watched as the wand rolled and then come to rest at his feet. He leaned down and was thrilled to find he could pick it up. He had planned on taking Harry's wand; he hadn't expected it to be so easy. As he held it, he felt something familiar. It almost felt like his own wand. Before he had time to ponder this, he heard Harry mutter even more desperately; "Ginny, please wake up..." as he started to shake her. Ginny had been nothing more than a tool to Tom and yet he couldn't stand to see this boy shaking her like that, so decided to reveal himself.

"She won't wake," Tom said softly as he walked up behind Harry.

"Tom... Tom Riddle?" Harry stammered as he turned to face him.

"Good," he thought, "he recognizes me, that saves time." Tom nodded.

"What do you mean, she won't wake? She's not... she's not...?" Harry asked the desperation obvious in his voice.

"She's still alive... but only just..." he replied. He could feel her heart slowing as his began to beat a steady rhythm. Harry stared at him. Tom stared back. He was in no rush. He wanted answers and he was determined to get them.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked and almost made Tom laugh. He was so much more than just a ghost… but how to explain it the boy?

"A memory," he replied then thought; "Yes, that's close enough," and then continued quietly; "Preserved in a diary for fifty years," and he pointed to said diary lying by the foot of the statue. He could see the boy's confusion, but Harry was not to be deterred.

"You've got to help me, Tom," he said as he tried to lift the girl's head again. "We've got to get her out of here. There's a Basilisk... I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment. Please, help me." Tom just watched as Harry, sweating, hoisted the girl half off the floor and then finally realised his wand was missing. "Did you see...?" Tom watched as the boy realised it was in his hand and began to twirl it idly, enjoying the simple feeling of holding anything again. Harry reached his hand out to him, "Thanks." Tom smiled, and thought; "As if I'm giving this back."

Harry was starting to have trouble holding up Ginny. "Listen," he said, "We've got to go! If the Basilisk comes..." Tom was losing his patience.

"Enough of this foolishness…." he thought. How could this boy actually expect him, Tom, to help him. "It won't come until it's called," he informed him calmly.

Harry lowered Ginny back to the ground. It seemed the boy might be finally starting to understand the real threat here: "What do you mean?" he questioned and then added more urgently; "Look… give me my wand, I might need it."

"You won't be needing it," Tom replied with a smile and added to himself; "Not like it would do you any good anyway."

"What d'you mean, I won't be...?"

"Enough of this..." Ginny was almost dead and soon he would be able to kill the boy. He needed answers; "I've waited for a long time for this Harry Potter," he noticed the look of confusion on the boy's face; "For the chance to see you… to speak with you."

But still Harry wasn't listening to him. "Look," he said, clearly losing patience as if he were talking to someone who couldn't understand English; "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later."

"We're going to talk now," he smiled and put the wand in his pocket. He was starting to think he might just kill the boy out of frustration and he didn't want to be tempted. "Come on, boy," he thought, "catch up already."

"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked.

Finally, we get to the heart of the manner. "Well, that's an interesting question and quite the long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger." He paused for a moment and watched Harry's face for a moment before continuing; "It's very boring, having to listen to the troubles of an eleven year old girl, but I was patient. I wrote back, I was sympathetic, I was kind and I gave her dreams she didn't want to wake from." He laughed, the irony of her dreams, of how they had helped him to control her, would always make him laugh, he thought before continuing. "If I say it myself Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed to. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to control her while she lost herself to the dreams I had created for her."

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.

"Haven't you guessed yet?" Maybe he _had_ given the boy too much credit. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She killed the roosters and left the messages on the walls. She sent the serpent of Slytherin on the four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered.

"Yes," he replied calmly, "Even if she didn't know it. I've been keeping her subdued for months. She would lose herself to the dreams I had planted and then I would do what I wanted with her body. She knew nothing until I told her, just before I brought her here." He looked at Harry in satisfaction; the boy was getting angry, clenching his hand into fists. "But I needed to meet you. I needed to know you… so I made her angry… angry enough to throw away the diary and place it in your path… and how overjoyed I was when you did."

"And why did you want to meet me?" He could tell Harry was getting angry.

"Well, you see I overhead Luna say something about you defeating the Dark Lord. I was curious so I searched Ginny's mind and what I found only raised more questions. I knew I must find you, talk to you, meet you if I could. But most of all I wanted to search your memories... learn how you had defeated the Dark Lord. So I showed you my famous capture of the great oaf, Hagrid, to distract you so I could search."

"Hagrid's my friend," Harry interrupted.

"How noble," Tom thought, "about to die and he still defends his friends."

"And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake but..." Harry said thoughtfully.

Tom couldn't help himself and laughed out loud; "It was my word against his, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school Prefect, model student; on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise Werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls," Tom knew he was wasting time but he was enjoying watching Harry become angrier and angrier. "But I admit, even I was surprised how well my plan worked. I thought someone would realise that Hagrid couldn't be the heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!" He let that sink in for a moment before continuing; "Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed. Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did..."

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," Harry spat.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," he admitted. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school, but I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent looking for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen year old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work," Tom finished proudly.

"Well, you haven't finished it... no one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will all be alright again."

"You silly boy... do you think that those people were Petrified by accident?" He saw the look of confusion cross Harry's face. "I did that on purpose. I was buying time. I had meant to kill the Granger girl but she outsmarted me. I needed time to become," he waved his hand, indicating himself; "this. I didn't even care that those I attacked were Mudbloods. No, that was a happy coincidence. I chose them because they were connected to you. I knew you'd feel responsible, I knew you'd do anything to solve this mystery. And so I led you here. I placed the message on the wall, I left Ginny's wand to be found... I waited for you to come. I have so many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat.

"Well," Tom replied smiling, "how is that a baby, with no extraordinary magical talent, managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?" He waited anxiously for Harry's response.

"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after you time."

"The boy has the nerve to say my name, impressive," he thought before enlightening him. "Voldemort," he said softly, "is my past, present and future, Harry Potter..." he could see that Harry still seemed to be confused and so he showed him. Pulling Harry's wand from his pocket he wrote in the air: "Tom Marvolo Riddle," he waved the wand again and the words changed to: "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT."

"You see?" He whispered. It was difficult. He wasn't getting the answers he wanted and he was just itching to kill the boy. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle Father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side?" He could feel his own anger growing at the injustice. "I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born just because he found out his wife was a witch?" After all these years, it still bothered him. "No, Harry, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

The boy seemed struck dumb until he said quietly, hatred lacing his voice; "You're not."

"Not what?" Tom snapped irritably.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," he said, starting to breathe hard. "Sorry to disappoint you, and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try to take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days."

Tom was astounded. "About to die, and he taunts me?" he thought.

"Enough!" Tom yelled, "Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me! I want answers!"

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted.

Tom was about to laugh when he heard it. Music. Unearthly music and it pained him. "What is it?" he thought. "Where is it coming from?" He searched frantically for its source and then he saw a ball flames as they erupted near the top of the nearest pillar. He marvelled at the crimson bird when it appeared: it was the size of a swan with a long golden glittering tail and gold talons that seemed to be carrying something. Tom watched as the bird flew straight at Harry, dropped the bundle it was carrying, and then perched itself on Harry's shoulder. And then he realized what it was.

"That's a phoenix..." he said aloud.

"Fawkes?" Harry breathed.

And then Tom recognized the bundle at Harry's feet. "And that," he all but stammered as he was having a hard time not laughing, "that's the old school sorting hat." He laughed. He laughed longer and harder than he could ever remember have laughed before. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and old hat!" He couldn't believe it. "Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?" He taunted. He was losing patience, "To business, Harry. Twice... in your past, in my future... we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk the longer you stay alive."

To Tom's surprise the boy answered; "No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me. I don't know myself," Tom waited with baited breath. "But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," he could the see the boy start to shake with his rage. "She stopped you from killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year," Tom remembered Harry's memory and suppressed a shudder; "You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly and foul," Harry informed him petulantly.

Tom was furious. Why had his older self not seen this? He tried to smile as he replied; "So. Your mother died to save you?" The puzzle pieces were starting to make sense. "Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. I can see now... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see, because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even _you_ must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike... but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me, that's all I wanted to know."

"Time for you to die," he thought.

"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him."

He took one last amused look at the bird on the boy's shoulder and the hat still lying at his feet and then turned to the statue of his forefather and called to his pet; "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Tom stood back as the mouth of the statue opened. He had asked the snake to wait there as he was always a fan of making an entrance. He turned to look at the boy as the snake approached him. "Kill him," he hissed to it.

He began to laugh as he watched Harry stumbling backwards, his eyes closed, trying to avoid the snake's gaze. He was about to roar in triumph as the great snake reached its full height, ready to strike.

"What is the damned bird doing? No! Not the eyes!" Tom watched helpless as the bird blinded the great snake and distracted it from its true target, "No!" he yelled to the snake, "Leave the bird! Leave the bird! The boy is behind you! You can still smell him! Kill him!" He watched as the now blind snake swayed, the bird still circling its head and jabbing here and there at the snake's nose.

"Help me, help me, someone, anyone," Harry muttered helplessly. He laughed again as the boy pulled the old sorting on his head.

"Kill the boy! Leave the bird! The boy is behind you! Sniff... smell him," he commanded the snake and watched as it finally listened, found the boy, and reared to deliver its death strike. It missed and as it tried again, Tom thought he saw a flash of silver and then the Basilisk fell to the floor, twitching as it died. He stared at the snake for a moment and then turned his attention back to Harry.

Tom watched as Harry slid to the floor and pulled one of the Basilisk's fangs from his arm. "He will die anyway…" he thought, somewhat saddened he had lost his pet after all this time. Tom watched, bemused, as the Phoenix came to rest by Harry.

"Fawkes," he heard Harry say thickly, death already lacing his voice, "You were brilliant, Fawkes..." he trailed off as the bird laid his head on the wound on his arm.

"You're dead, Harry Potter," he informed the boy triumphantly. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what it's doing, Potter? It's crying." The boy was clearly dying but Tom couldn't resist the urge to taunt the boy, once last time. "I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

"It's true," he thought, "now that I'm back I have all the time in the world.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter," he began, sounding as though he was giving the boy's eulogy. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with you dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry... she bought you twelve years of borrowed time... but I, Lord Voldemort, got you in the end, as you knew that I would."

He continued to watch Harry… waiting to see the last spark of life leave his eyes. But wait, the boy seemed to be getting better. The phoenix moved his head from Harry's wound and then he remembered; "Phoenix tears... of course... healings powers... how could I forget?" he said aloud, chastised himself, the smiled as he realized; "I get to kill him myself!"

"But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter, you and me..." He raised his wand at Harry, the curse already forming on his lips when he was distracted by the bird as it retrieved the diary and dropped it in Harry's lap.

For a moment he and Harry both starred it… there was nothing he could do as he watched in horror as Harry took the fang that still lay beside him and plunged it deep into the diary,

"No..." he screamed as the pain overwhelmed him: every fabric of the being he had worked so hard to become was being torn apart. The very last thought Tom had, before he was ripped apart was; "Not again..."

…

Ginny woke suddenly, ripped from the dream she was having. She slowly looked around. She didn't know where she was or how she had gotten there but she knew that this, this nasty dirty place, was real. "It was all a dream," she thought as she looked at her hands. She was quickly realising she was her old eleven year old self again. She struggled to hold onto the remnants of the dream: she and Hermione were old, sitting together on a porch and they were happy. Happy, together, and madly in love. Ginny moaned out loud, "None of it was real..." what had Tom made her do? All of a sudden the dreams she had been having all year were replaced by the reality of what she, or rather, what Tom, had made her do.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps approaching. Looking up she was relieved to see it was Harry covered in blood. She looked around the Chamber, trying to figure out what happened. She looked at the snake and then back at Harry and noticed the diary in his hands.

"Harry... oh Harry... I tried to, I don't know, I think I tried to warn you or something at breakfast. But Tom, he wouldn't let me." She looked at him pleadingly. "How did you kill that thing? Where's Tom... the last thing I remember was him telling me all this, all the bad things that happened this year, was my fault. That everyone was going to hate me."

"It's all right," and he showed her what was left of Tom's diary. "Riddle's finished. Look… him and the Basilisk. C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here..."

A new fear gripped her; "I'm going to be expelled," and said and started to weep. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since Bill came and now I'll have to leave and... what'll Mum and Dad say?"

Ginny noticed that Harry seemed at a loss for words. She knew there was nothing he could say to assuage her fears and so he didn't try. She thought about being expelled, never seeing Hermione again and almost fell to the floor again in despair. She followed Harry out of the Chamber and into the tunnel that led to it. He stopped when they heard the sound of rocks being moved.

"Ron!" Harry yelled, "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

She heard her brother's muffled cheer and then moments later turned a corner to see his smiling face in a gap in the rocks. He tried to reach through and hug her but she stopped him… all she wanted was to get out of the foul place and see Hermione.

She half-listened as Harry and her brother discussed what had happened and why Lockhart was wandering around like a lost child. She and Harry climbed through the hole Ron had created and the three of them stared up at the pipe that would lead them out. Ginny was trying to remember how she'd had gotten out before but Harry came up with a better plan. She watched as a large crimson bird flew around their heads and then finally came to hover in front of Harry and shook his tail feathers at him.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold," Ron said confused, "but we're much too heavy for a bird to pull us up there."

"Fawkes," said Harry, "isn't an ordinary bird." Harry looked to the others. "We've got to hold onto each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand," and she did so, still wondering what Harry had in mind. "Professor Lockhart…"

"He means you," Ron said, sharply poking the Professor as he did so. Harry tucked a sword and what looked like the Sorting Hat into his belt and then Ron took hold of Harry's robes. Once everyone was ready Harry took hold of the bird's tail feathers. All of a sudden Ginny felt light as feather as the bird took flight up the pipe.

She closed her eyes during the trip and lost herself again in the memories of her dreams as they continued to fade. The next thing she knew they were standing in Myrtle's bathroom. She thought she heard Ron make some comment about her, Ginny, having competition for Harry. If she hadn't been crying so hard she might have laughed.

"Where to now?" She heard Ron ask. Ginny followed them blindly through her tears, the loss overwhelming her as she walked.

"None of it was real," she thought again, "Hermione... doesn't love me, never did..."

She looked up as she heard Harry knock, then push open, the door to Professor McGonagall's office.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And the end draws near... just one more chapter to follow. When I started writing this I vowed to do everything possible to not regurgitate large portions of the book… until I got to this chapter. It's a vital piece of the story and I hope I did it justice.
> 
> Thank you all for the reviews and follows. It's really nice knowing someone out there is reading, and even enjoying, something I've written.


	17. Term's End

For a moment they just stood there in silence. As if no one had any words to describe what had just happened. Ginny thought vaguely that the sight of her, Harry, Ron and Lockhart, (who was still looking like a lost child), standing in the doorway covered in muck, slime, and in Harry's case, a whole lot blood, was quite a scene to behold. She was brought out of her musing when she heard a familiar voice scream her name and was enveloped by the arms of her parents. She couldn't even tell who else was in the room until they let her go to hug Harry and Ron. In addition to her parents, they were joined by Professor Dumbledore, who was beaming at all assembled, the large beautiful bird Ginny now knew to be his Phoenix, Fawkes, sitting on his shoulder. And lastly, Professor McGonagall, who looked as though she was still fighting a panic attack at their sudden appearance. Perhaps she was just upset with all the dirt that had just come into her spotless office, Ginny thought ruefully.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" Her mum asked the boys.

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly. Finally released from her mother's hug, Harry wandered over to the desk and placed the Sorting Hat, a sword and Tom's battered old diary in the middle of it. Ginny listened as Harry recounted his tale and wondered when they would get to her part in the tale.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is How Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forest of Albania."

She fought the urge to scream; "Wait... what? Voldemort?" Her sense of feeling dirty intensified and she started to wonder if she'd ever truly feel clean again.

She was relieved when her father voiced his thoughts, "W... what's that? You-Know-Who en… enchanted Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?" She was desperate to understand and the differing realities still swirling in her brain wasn't making things any easier. She watched as Harry pointed to the diary and explained what it was but she still didn't understand. What did Voldemort have to do with this? And then listened as Dumbledore explained that Voldemort was born Tom Riddle and about all he had done on his path to becoming the most feared dark wizard of all time.

"But Ginny," he mother asked, "What's our Ginny got to do with... with... _him_?"

"His d… diary! I've been writing in it, and he's been writing back all year..." Ginny stammered in explanation. She knew it wasn't the full truth but how could she ever explain that Tom had become so much more than a friend? Already she was realising that everything he did, every dream he'd given her, was so he could use her. How could she tell them that she already knew that she was going to miss Tom... she met Dumbledore's eyes. They seemed to be searching for the full truth but he seemed satisfied with her answer.

"Ginny!" Barked her father, she'd never seen him so angry. Well not at her anyway, "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!"

"I didn't know... Mum knew I wanted a diary for my birthday and I thought she'd slipped into my cauldron with my other books but had forgotten about it after what happened at the bookstore. I remembered that thing about the brain, Dad, but I really thought Mum had got it for me..."

"And when she mentioned it in the car..." realised Mrs Weasley, "I assumed you'd bought it for her, Arthur, and forgotten to tell me."

Dumbledore was still looking at her at intently, almost as though he could see the conflict inside her. "Miss Weasley should go up to the Hospital Wing straight away," Ginny gave him a small smile as a thank you, "this has been a terrible ordeal for her"

"You don't know the half of it," she thought.

"There will be no punishment," Dumbledore continued and she sighed audibly in relief. "Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." Watching as he strode to the door and opened it, she wondered again just how much the man knew. "Bed rest and perhaps a large steaming mug of hot chocolate… I always find that cheers me up." She thought it was going to take a whole lot more than hot chocolate to cheer her up but then he did. With a kindly smile he added; "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out the Mandrake juice... I dare say the Basilisk's victims will be waking any moment."

"Hermione!" she thought and ran from the room before anyone could stop her. She ran as fast as she should could until something stopped her dead in her tracks. In her excitement at seeing Hermione she hadn't paid attention where she was going and found herself staring at the words Tom had written using her magic. She backed up and slumped against the opposite wall as reality hit her again. She slid down to sit at the bottom as the guilt hit her.

How could she face the rest of the school, let alone, Hermione, after all that happened? She may not be responsible for what Tom did when he had taken control of her but she was responsible for how it easy it had been for him. She wanted the dreams she gave her. Even now that she knew why he had done it, she realised with sadness that her dreams were almost gone and being replaced by the vague memories of what had really happened.

She angrily wiped the tears from her face and stood with a new resolve and headed in the direction of the Hospital Wing. She was conflicted at seeing Hermione but she had to see her. Even though all the feelings she'd dreamt that Hermione had for her were just a dream, she knew, deep down, how she felt was real. She knew this because Tom wouldn't have been able to exploit those feelings if they hadn't been there. She paused at the door of the Hospital Wing door and suddenly realized that she felt so much older.

With all that was left of her will power she opened the door to the Hospital Wing and saw Hermione. Her breath caught in her throat and she fought back the tears. She watched as Madam Pomfrey fussed over her when Hermione looked up and noticed her standing there and their eyes met. She realised that Hermione probably didn't know everything that had happened yet, and wondered how much she should tell her. Hermione smiled at her and asked Madam Pomfrey something. They seemed to talk a moment before Madam Pomfrey disappeared in her office. When she returned she handed Hermione something seemed to tell her something before she walked over.

They slowly started to walk towards one another, too slowly for Ginny's taste and so she quickened her steps and flung her arms her as soon as she close enough and hugged her with all the strength she could muster. She almost started crying again when she felt Hermione return the hug with equal ferocity.

…

Hermione had woken with a terrible taste in her mouth and stiffness in all her limbs. She sat up slowly and looked around. "Ah Miss Granger, I see you're awake..." Madam Pomfrey greeted and handed her a glass of water; "some stiffness is to be expected of course but you'll be fine in no time," she added.

She wasn't sure what the Healer was talking about when she remembered what happened.

"Quick Madam Pomfrey," she said urgently grabbing the Healer's arm and making her turn in fright, "The beast. I need to see Dumbledore it's a ..."

"Basilisk?" Madam Pomfrey interrupted her and then resumed her fussing. She could only nod stunned. "Yes, we're aware. I was informed just before you woke that Mr. Potter somehow managed to find the Chamber of Secrets and killed the beast. Apparently the fool boy went down there when he discovered the beast had taken Miss Weasley down there."

"Not Ginny," she thought. She looked up when she heard the Hospital Wing door open and turned to find Ginny standing there. Madam Pomfrey went to fuss over the girl when Hermione stopped her. "She's been through enough don't you think?" The Healer looked at her questioningly. "Look at her…" she nodded in Ginny's direction; "she's exhausted, she's filthy and I'm thinking the last thing she wants to do right now is lay here in Hospital Wing all night with only her thoughts for company."

Madam Pomfrey sized her up a moment. "You are very wise for your age Miss Granger and I have a feeling you know that young girl far better than I. I will get you a Sleeping Draught for her; can you take her to her dorm and see that she takes it?" Hermione nodded and watched the Healer walk to her office. When she came back she handed a small potion bottle to her. "Make sure she's in bed when she takes it and make sure she takes it all," the Healer instructed.

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey," she said as she slipped the bottle into her pocket. Hermione turned back to Ginny and walked towards the young girl. Ginny looked like she been through hell and she wanted to do something, anything, to help her. She was about to run and hug her when Ginny got there first. She felt Ginny's arms tighten around her fiercely and she tried to return the hug with equal intensity. She felt Ginny lay her head on her chest and automatically reached up to stroke her hair.

She slackened her grip slightly and pushed Ginny back a little so she could look at her face; "I don't know about you but I could use a shower and a change of clothes before I head to the feast I hear they're planning."

Ginny laughed a little; "The shower sounds good," she backed out Hermione's arms and showed her the state of her robes; "but I think I'll skip the feast," she added.

"Why don't you want to go the feast?" Hermione as ked as she put her arm around Ginny's shoulders and led her from the Hospital Wing. She listened with dawning comprehension as Ginny explained about the diary and how she'd been controlled ever since she had touched it. "But it wasn't your fault Ginny... it wasn't actually you doing it."

"But I let him," Ginny thought and shook her head. "I know that Hermione but... I guess I'm just not ready to deal with everyone else. I'm still trying to figure out what's real and not real... I don't think I can answer any questions till I figure it out myself, you know?"

Hermione stopped and turned Ginny to look at her just before they entered the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room. The looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then Ginny looked down defeated. How she could tell Hermione the truth? She felt guilty because she was guilty. She looked up as she felt Hermione's hand on her cheeks lifting her face so they again looked in each other's eyes.

"Ginny," Hermione said softly; "I know it seems hard right now but it's going to be okay. I promise." She didn't look convinced. "I know you're not ready to talk about it yet, I wouldn't be if I was you, but if you ever do need someone to talk to," she rested her forehead against Ginny's; "I'm always there for you okay? No matter what."

Ginny felt the tears slide down her cheeks before she could stop them. Ginny knew Hermione didn't feel the same way about her, but this? This was more than she'd hoped for. She felt Hermione wipe the tears from her cheeks and whispered, "Thank you," as they hugged again.

Trying to cheer her up a little Hermione broke the hug, took Ginny by the hand and said; "Now c'mon I know I need a shower... I've been laying collecting dust in these same clothes for weeks." She looked at Ginny as they entered the Common Room; "And frankly, my dear, you stink," she teased and poked Ginny in the side to make her giggle before taking her hand and lacing their fingers.

They climbed the steps to the dorms and when they separated at Ginny's door Hermione told her she'd stop in before going to the feast. Ginny let her hand go, already missing the feeling she got every time she held Hermione's, and watched her climb the stairs. Sighing, she went to take a shower.

…

Hermione had felt her heart breaking when she saw the fear and guilt on Ginny's face. As she undressed and stepped into the shower she found herself thinking about her, and by the time her shower was over, she knew she would do anything in her power to see that Ginny was never hurt again. She sighed as she dressed, realising that the term was almost over, there was little she could do for her while they were apart. She had dressed and then found a small piece of parchment to write her address on.

Folding it carefully she went to see Ginny, but when she entered the room she could still hear the shower running so she sat on her bed to wait. A little while later Ginny emerged from the bathroom wearing a fluffy robe. She spotted Hermione and sat next to her on the bed. For a moment neither girl said anything. Hermione again slipped her arm around Ginny's shoulders and pulled her close. She showed her the piece of parchment in her hand and explained; "It's my address... I want you to write... if you ever want to talk about..." she trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

Ginny carefully took the parchment and opened it. She read Hermione's address and then noticed something she had written underneath: "I'll always be there for you. Love, Hermione." As she stared at the words she wondered if she would ever use the address... how could she tell her all that she feels when she still didn't fully understood all that had happened? She folded the parchment back up carefully and vowed that, although she may never write Hermione, she would keep it safe and with her always.

"Thanks Hermione, I..." she started but words failed her. Hermione reached into her pocket and retrieved the vial Madam Pomfrey had given her and handed it to Ginny.

"It's a sleeping draught. Madam Pomfrey gave it to me and made me promise that you take it." She saw Ginny looking at it skeptically. "It will give you a night of dreamless sleep..." she smiled crookedly; "It was the only way I could convince her to let you stay here instead of the Hospital Wing… I thought you'd be more comfortable here."

A dreamless sleep sounded good to Ginny. She'd spent far too much time in her dreams and a break from that sounded wonderful. She knew when she woke in the morning she'd still have to deal with everything that had happened but it would be nice, even if it was only temporary. She went to take the potion but Hermione stopped her.

"You'll fall asleep right away," she said as she withdrew her arm and stood, "you should get into bed before you drink it. Wait a second," she instructed before she waved her wand over Ginny's bed.

After she had removed her robe and climbed into bed she realised Hermione had cast a warming spell on her bed. She settled herself in then drank the potion.

Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her covers up to her chin and watched as she fell asleep. "It really is going to be okay Ginny, I promise..." she whispered to the sleeping girl and placed a gentle kiss on her head. She stood and with one long last look at the girl, she headed down to the feast, promising herself that she'd check in on her before she went to bed.

…

The feast had been wonderful. Hermione had been so happy to see her friends. Thrilled at how Harry had figured it all out, and once again, saved the day. When she'd heard about Lockhart though... she wasn't sure, but there was something, weird, about the whole thing and remembered with a start, the theory she had begun to form about him during the Dueling Club and again wondered what the pendant was.

After a few days she decided she needed to figure it out, and despite the many complaints from Ron and Harry that the exams had been canceled and what could she possible need at the library, she went to find some answers. She asked Madam Pince for any books about memory charms and sighed when she was given three very large books, again thinking how much she missed Muggle libraries, she took the books over to a sunlit table to read.

She had flipped through two books already and was part way through the third when she found Lockhart's pendant. As she read she realised with horror what must have happened and decided to tell Dumbledore. Even though she suspected that there was nothing that could be done for him, she had to tell someone in the off chance, it could. She checked the book out and was about to the leave the library when the door opened in front of her and there stood the very man she wanted to talk to.

"Miss Granger," he said, "I was hoping I might find you here. There are a few things I would like to talk to you about before you leave for the summer."

She was stunned... Dumbledore come to find her?

"Well sir, I was actually just coming to look for you..."

He raised his eyebrows and looked at her; "Is that so? Well how fortuitous that we found each other then. Will you accompany to somewhere we can talk more privately?"

Hermione nodded, she'd always wanted to see the Headmaster's office. But that wasn't where he led her. A few doors down from the library they entered a small, rarely used, classroom. Dumbledore looked around.

"Rather dreary isn't it?" He asked and then waved his wand around the room. Suddenly there were two comfy armchairs and a table complete with tea and cookies already on it. "Please sit Miss Granger." She did and when she looked up saw Dumbledore looking at her expectantly. "What is it you wished to speak to me about?" he asked.

"Sir, it's about Professor Lockhart," she replied, sounding bracer than she felt at addressing the Headmaster.

"Yes, poor man, erased his own memory when Mr. Weasley's wand backfired. He may show improvement in time, but I suspect he will live the remainder of his life in St. Mungo's," he replied sadly.

Hermione screwed up her courage; "Sir, I think it may be more complicated than that," she began and Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. He gave her a nod and encouraged her to go on. "The first time I met him I had a suspicion that he had never performed the acts he was so famous for. That he had tracked down extraordinary wizards, recorded their stories and perhaps erased their memories so they could never contradict him."

"I admit, I had come to the same conclusion," Dumbledore said, nodding.

"But, Sir? I think he did more than that. I noticed after he tried to fix Harry's arm that he seemed, I don't know surprised, when it didn't work. I looked up the spell he used after it happened and I found out the spell exists and usually works, if the person casting it knows how to use it," as he seemed interested she continued; "Then, when we had the dueling club, I saw him try to perform the counter spell, but again, nothing happened. I started to think sir, what if he had somehow managed to incorporate other people's memories into his own? And what if he had incorporated so many that he could no longer remember what he had or hadn't done in the past?"

"That's a very interesting theory Miss Granger and it does certainly explain a lot."

"Thank you sir, but I think there is even more to it," she saw a look of surprise cross his face. "He came to visit me in the Hospital Wing when I..."

"Was a cat?" He provided helpfully, suppressing a smile as he did so.

She nodded. "Well sir, he had a pendant," she pulled out the book and showed him, "Just like this." She waited for him to read the description. "Sir, when I saw it, it was broken. I think it happened when he and Professor Snape were dueling. Sir, I think he ran out of room in his head for his own memories and stored them in the pendant."

"That, Miss Granger would explain everything."

"It... it does sir?"

"A memory charm, like the one he tried to perform on Mr. Weasley, should not have erased all of who he was. When it backfired it did wipe his memory, but as he already stored his long term memory in the pendant, there was nothing left."

Hermione nodded, she had come to same conclusion. "But isn't there anything that can be done for him?"

"I'm afraid not Miss Granger. He was in sorry enough shape from meddling with his own memories but when the pendant broke and released them he lost any sense of self he may have still had, and instead became an amalgamation of all the memories he had stolen. He may have continued a relatively normal life despite the pendant's loss had he not performed the one spell he was ever adept at. Removing the stolen memories, there was nothing left."

Hermione nodded again and they both grew silent, contemplating Lockhart's fate. "Sir?" She said tentatively; "You mentioned you wanted to speak to me about something?"

"Yes..."he said slowly, pulling himself from his own musings; "You have become good friends with Miss Weasley, have you not?"

"I'd like to think so," she answered, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I was wondering if I could ask you to watch over her."

"I was already planning to do that, sir, but I don't know how much I can do when she's at The Burrow and I'm at her parents." She thought for a moment; "I'd suggest she spend time with Luna, Luna Lovegood, but when I spoke to her at the feast she mentioned that she and her father were going on some "hunting" expedition this summer."

"Hmmm," said Professor Dumbledore, "I think I will have to write to Mr. Lovegood and suggest he stay home this summer. I was wondering Miss Granger if I could ask a small favour?" He smiled and removed a small box from his pocket and placed it at Hermione's feet. She leaned over to open it but Dumbledore stopped her and smiled. He waved his wand and the box grew to ten times its original size and then he indicted for her to open it. Inside were about ten notebooks with locks on them.

"Could you get these diaries to Miss Weasley?" he asked.

"I don't think Ginny ever wants to see a diary again sir..."

"I can understand how you might think that, Miss Granger," he chuckled, "however these are simple Muggle diaries with simple Muggle keys. There is nothing, whatsoever, magical about them."

"But, sir, I still don't understand"

"Miss Weasley has been through a horrible ordeal. I fear she may be very confused right now, trying to figure truth from fiction. Until she is ready to talk about what happened... well I think if she was able to write things out, they may become clearer."

Hermione nodded. "Sir? Can you teach me the spell you used to shrink them?" She asked, although she'd done the spell before, it wasn't everyday one got the chance to learn from Dumbledore himself. He smiled and then spent the next fifteen minutes teaching her until she could do with it ease.

"I have one more favour to ask of you Miss Granger and I'm not sure I have the right to ask it."

Hermione looked at him quizzically; "What can I, a thirteen year old witch, do, that he can't?" she wondered.

"It concerns Harry Potter," he stated.

"Sir?" She said in surprise.

"I need this to stay between us, but Harry has a long and difficult journey ahead of him. I would feel much more at ease if I knew he could count on you to help him," he confided.

"Me, sir?"

"Yes, Miss Granger, you." Before Hermione could interrupt him, he continued; "I unlike, my colleagues before me, look into the Muggle school records of our students who have attended them." He saw the look of shock on her face. "Yes, Miss Granger, I am well aware of your, ah, unique ability and your very high I.Q. I'm also aware of just how much you have already helped Harry during his adventures. I am simply asking that you continue to do so." She nodded but it wasn't enough. "I have your word? And you will not tell him, or anyone else, that I have asked this of you?"

"Yes sir... I'll... I'll do my best," she answered, in her shock it was the best she could do.

"One last thing before you go, Miss Granger..." he smiled; "Professor McGonagall has informed me that you have signed up for every class next year?" She nodded. "I was wondering Miss Granger how, even you, with your unique _gifts_ , was planning on attending more than one class at a time?"

"I don't know," she shrugged; "I guess I figured I'd do them on alternating days or something..."

"No, Miss Granger that will not do..." Hermione's heart sank slightly; "I think I may have a better plan. If she agrees, Professor McGonagall will explain it to you at the start of next term."

"Thank you, sir..." Hermione slipped the small box in her pocket and stood to leave.

"And Miss Granger?" She turned and looked at him. "Well done on the Polyjuice Potion," she thought he was going to punish her until she saw the twinkle in his eye. "But next time? Be sure to check the origin of the hair you use?" He laughed quietly at the look of relief she was sure was on her face. "You truly are a remarkable young woman and very skilled witch as well. Have a good summer, Hermione."

"Thank you, sir..."

As she walked back to Gryffindor door she mused over what Dumbledore had told her.

…

It was the night before the train would take them all back to their homes for the summer. Hermione and the boys were sitting by the fire when she noticed Ginny come into the Common Room and then head up the stairs to the dorms. She excused herself from the boys and followed. Knocking softly on the door to Ginny's dorm she entered to find Ginny packing her trunk. She turned at the sound of the open door and saw Hermione.

"Hey Ginny..."

"Hi Hermione," she replied smiling. "What's up?"

"Um, Professor Dumbledore asked me to give these to you." Hermione showed her the box. Before Ginny could ask, "these?", as there was only the one small box, Hermione had placed it on the floor and spoke the charm Dumbledore had taught her. She opened the box, took a diary, and sat on Ginny's bed with it.

Ginny sat beside her and took the book from her hand, turning it over she frowned. "It looks like a diary... of all things why would Dumbledore think I would want a diary? Let alone a whole box of them?" She asked as she tried to give the book back to Hermione.

"That's what I said... but these aren't like Tom's diary. They are nothing more than Muggle notebooks with Muggle keys and locks. He seemed to think that it would help you sort out... well, everything that's happened to you... until you're ready to talk about it." She could see that Ginny was still thinking it over. "I'll teach you the charm to shrink the box if you'd like?" Ginny nodded.

Ginny patiently learned the charm from Hermione and then placed the box in her trunk. She turned to look at Hermione only to find her staring at her. There was so much Ginny wanted to say to Hermione, but she couldn't find the words. She was still trying to sort out her feelings for her and felt that until she had, it was best not to tell her. And then of course was the fear; "If I tell her how I feel... will I lose this friendship that already means so much to me?"

Hermione saw a look of sadness cross Ginny's face: not knowing what to say in comfort, she stepped forward and wrapped her in her arms, both feeling that tug over their hearts but neither of them understanding what it meant.

"I'm not going anywhere Ginny," Hermione whispered as though she could read the fears that Ginny was harboring; "I'm always going to be there for you when if need me," she finished leaning back to look at Ginny.

"Promise?" Ginny asked with tears in her eyes, knowing that someday that may be a promise Hermione would not be able to keep.

"Promise," she replied firmly and pulled Ginny close again.

…

The next day they all shared a compartment on the train ride home. Harry and Ron played a very loud game of Exploding Snap while Fred and George set off every last firework they had.

Ginny sat staring out the window next to Hermione, lost her in thoughts and how, very soon, she would have to say goodbye to Hermione for the summer. So engrossed was she in her musings she didn't even notice when Hermione left the cabin for a few minutes.

Hermione had been watching the boys when she thought she saw Luna pass. She excused herself and followed her.

"Hey Luna," she called, getting the girl to turn to talk to her.

"Hi Hermione... I was just looking for Ginny, have you seen her?"

"Yeah... she's back in my compartment," Luna turned to walk that way when Hermione stopped her with a hand on her arm. Luna looked at her questioningly. "I'm worried about Ginny, Luna. I can't be there to help her over the summer... I know you're her best friend and you live close by... can you watch over her for me?" She handed her a piece of parchment with her address, "and let me know how she's doing?" she added.

"But I already told you at the feast..." Luna started in confusion, "my Dad is taking me on one of his stupid _hunting_ trips this summer."

"I think, Luna, you'll find those plans have changed when you get home."

"Really?" She asked excitedly. Hermione nodded and she continued; "Oh Thank Merlin... I hate those trips!" They both started to laugh and wandered back to Hermione's compartment when Luna stopped her with a hand on her arm. She considered briefly telling Hermione of Ginny's feelings, but she realized that wasn't her place. Instead she said; "Thank you Hermione... for watching out for her."

"I always will Luna... I always will..." they shared a brief hug and went into the noisy compartment, Luna going to sit with her friend.

Just before arriving at King's Cross Harry handed his phone number to Hermione and Ron, explaining that he thought he wouldn't be able to stand two months with only his cousin to talk to.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they? When they hear what you did this year?" Hermione asked.

Harry laughed and replied; "Proud? Are you mad? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious."

They all passed through the barrier to the Muggle world and were walking towards their respective parents when Hermione noticed that Ginny had stopped.

Ginny had found herself again lost for words as she looked at Hermione and realized she wouldn't be seeing her for two months. She felt as though her heart were breaking until, without a word, Hermione walked over and hugged her and she again felt as though her body was melting into Hermione's.

"I can't wait to see you again," she thought as they finally separated.

They looked at each other a moment then Ginny said, very softly; "I'm going to miss you."

Hermione wrapped Ginny in her arms again and whispered in her ear; "Me too, Gin, me too."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so there you are... the end of Ginny's first year. When I started this I never expected the joy I would feel knowing someone out there was reading what I had written and enjoying it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I hope you've enjoyed the journey so far and rest assured, it is far from over and the second installment of the series, Dreamcatcher, is coming soon...


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